rashundatramble.com

I’ve uploaded some of the Malta photos. I have a few more that I may upload. I took quite a few pics using my Lomo, so I’ll have to get those developed. Actually, I have about five to six rolls of film that need to be developed.

I didn’t take that many Malta pics. I agree with the dude at digital-photography-school.com:

I’m often amazed to see groups of travellers driving up to a location - all piling out of the bus for a 2 minute stop so that all forty people can run out and take exactly the same shot. Sometimes travel groups look more like press conferences.

Last time I was on a tour overseas I heard two fellow travelers talking about how devastated they were to run out of batteries at one location and to not be able to get a shot of themselves there.

While I understood their disappointment I was stunned to hear one of them say that the ‘whole day was a complete waste of time’ because they didn’t ‘get the shot’.

Travel is about more than just the photos you take.

Put the camera down and enjoy the moment.

You don’t need to capture a moment to make it a valid experience.

In fact sometimes the drive to ‘capture’ every moment can become a distraction from the true joy of travel.

I learned that in film school too. I can’t think of the name of the concept, but the camera (be it still or video) has a tendency to disconnect me from experiencing a place. I’ve seen folks do the same as the guy talked about: walk up to a place, stand there for two seconds, snap a pic (without even taking time to even really think about composition), and then walk away. It leaves me speechless.

On another note: We wouldn’t have gone to Malta if I’d known about the island’s horrible treatment of asylum seekers:

Giusto Catania, italienischer Europaparlamentarier, ist wohl froh, lebt er nicht auf Malta. Denn dort müsste er um sich und seine Lieben fürchten. Catania war Mitglied einer Delegation des Europaparlaments, die die Zustände in den maltesischen Lagern untersuchte, in denen «illegale» MigrantInnen gefangen gehalten werden. «Nicht eine Minute könnte ich in einem solchen Lager verbringen», sagte Catania nach dem Besuch, «geschweige denn achtzehn Monate». Auch die französische Europaparlamentarierin Martine Roure war entsetzt: «So etwas habe ich in meinem ganzen Leben noch nicht gesehen. Die Migranten sind in eine Art Käfig gesperrt. Sie haben praktisch keine Möglichkeit, nach draussen zu gehen.»

Here’s my ROUGH, unaided translation of the first paragraph. Maybe the Hub or someone can make corrections:

Giusto Catania, an Italian member of the European Parliament, is glad that he doesn’t live in Malta. If he was there, he would be in fear for his life. Catania was a member of an EU delagation that visted the place where Malta kept its “illegal” immigrants. “Not for a minute could I live in such a place,” he said after the visit, “let along 18 months.” After the French EU representative, Martine Roure was (don’t know what “entsetzt” means): “I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole life. The immigrants are in some type of cage. They pratically have no chance to go outside.”

From what I could glean from the article, the very Catholic right wing party of Malta, which is the party in power, controls the situationboth left and right wing parties support how the immigrants are treated. Also, those going against the treatment of the immigrants are being threatened.

Maybe this is why an old woman walked up to us while we were eating at a cafe outside of Hagar Qim (if it can be called an actual cafe), said “hello”, and then told me she was “like the Pope”.

“I love all people,” she said. She then invited us to a play that was being held at her church. After speaking with me, she hugged me and then kissed me on both cheeks.

Hopefully, more folks like her will vote whenever the next elections come around.

On yet another note, Denise commented in my Fear post:

“Rashunda,
I am anxiously awaiting your post concerning living in Switzerland and “fear” ?
I would like to compare notes.”

Soon Denise. I have to get my words, and head, together.