Science of Peace was formed in a Maltese laboratory

May 16, 2010

The Catholic Times

Fr Paul Bonnici meets Franciscan Fr Dionysius Mintoff in Malta’s ground-breaking Peace Lab.

Franciscan priest Fr Dionysius Mintoff, 80, shows me round the Peace Lab which he established almost 40 years ago in Malta. He takes me straight to the chapel which also couples as a hall and conference room.

‘You can tell he is a Franciscan. All sorts of cages with pets and canaries are placed in the sanctuary.’ ‘See that altar there.’ He says as he points with his stick. ‘That was where World War II was planned. Yalta was planned from there, Churchill, Roosevelt and other allied leaders met here five times during the Second World War. A stone’s throw away from the airfields, this was the nerve centre where all the organisation of the air campaigns took place.

He shows me the murals which depict the history of humanity, the beatitudes and several people who in recent years have worked for peace.

Pride of place is given to Pope John XXIII, the Good Pope, who wrote the encyclical on peace addressed to all people of good will. Pacem in Teris. The Peace Lab is named after him. The main inspiration is St Francis of Assisi.

‘But how did you manage to lay your hands on this property?’ I ask. A skilled media communicator, who has been broadcasting for over half a century he gesticulates away in silence, turning his hand round in a semi-circle, as if to say: ‘Well it just happened!’

Fr Mintoff quickly changes the subject. He tells me how as a former British forces base with some 4,000 men living in it, with no females about the place, the locality quicly became a hot spot for prostitution.

He continues: ‘Prostitution in this district was very highly organized. It took me years of hard work and a lot of suffering to get rid of it and wipe it away from here for good’.

Fr Mintoff sips black coffee and eats sugar-free biscuits as he explains how Malta had one of the highest incidences in Europe for Leprosy or Jansen’s Disease and how because Hal Far is a bit cut off from any of Malta’s towns or villages, it served as a base where patients suffering from leprosy where sent off to be far away from other people. Leprosy was finally eradicated from Malta in 1976.

Fr Mintoff then takes me back to the mental in colonial Malta. He says: ‘ At the time, Malta was a colony and relied on the British . people who were given privileges were those were those who were awarded an OBE or an MBE by the British government.

‘There were not always the greatest friends of the Maltese people. This award was given in what is now the President’s Palace in Valletta. When the British left there was no such award to be given any more.

‘We then instituted a new kind of national award and called it ‘The John XXIII award for kindness.’ For many years it was the only national award available on the island. It is given to young people for unusual acts of kindness, for example, caring for a fellow student at school who is handicapped or has acute learning difficulties.’

In his younger days Fr Mintoff was employed by the Maltese Government as an education officer. Her continues that in the aftermath of World War II, when Malta suffered so much at the hands of the Germans, the Maltese were very anti-German. ‘In this context.” He adds, ‘we started a programme of peace education in our schools on a national level and now there is peace education from kindergarten to sixth form. We were the pioneers in this field.’

He stresses the Peace Lab’s educational role and talks about a monthly newspaper for youth which was published for 30 years before going on-line, as well as weekly 90-minute broadcasts on the state broadcaster PBS.

Fr Mintoff continued: “ We also carry out research on peace and have invited well-known personalities including Abbe Pierre, Michel Quoist, Cardinal del Caro and Mother Theresa of Calcutta.”

He then takes me to the various outbuildings within the compound which forms the Peace Lab.

Just outside the compound is Lister Barracks where more than 12,000 illegal immigrants had been detained for up to 18 months over the past 7 years. At the moment the barracks is empty.“I have 50 of these immigrants living with me” the Franciscan explains.

He leads me to a shed and he knocks on the door and asks for Mohammed. The shed was converted a couple of years ago into an internet café where the migrants spend an hour each evening.

“The café is open until midnight. They spend an hour each and it has been a wonderful success. Mohammed runs it every efficiently!” explains Fr Mintoff.
It was nine o’clock at night and it was time for him to go round the various dormitories, say good night and do a cleanliness inspection.

“While they are in detention,” he says “soldiers do not care about cleanliness or about anything else. All they care about is that the migrants do not escape. Here they have a programme. This place is run entirely by volunteers and providence. There are about 30 volunteers who come in everyday to help out and each one of them has got a specific task to carry out: doctors, teachers, IT, refuge work, broadcasters…

“We teach them English and local culture. We try to empower them. They do their own cooking and prepare for the world of work. These people come from Somalia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Ghana, Sudan – basically the whole of Africa.”

We go in to the male dormitory where people from Senegal were living. He calls all the other young men in from the other dormitories and puts his arm on the table as if he is going to arm wrestle them. Instead they all their hands on his fist, one on top of the other and say several times: “We are all one family.”

Fr Mintoff tells me how when these irregular migrants first appeared on Malta, the Peace Lab successfully started proceedings in the Maltese Law Courts to prevent the state from forcefully sending the first bunch of migrants to their war torn homeland. Since then no irregular migrants were forcefully repatriated.

He shows me a white corridor full of foodstuffs. “How do you fund this?” I ask him. Again he gesticulates in silence but does not answer. Providence seems to be at work.

Before I leave he takes me to his office and shows me a Crucifix. “That is the refugee”, he says. “His face looks like someone from Congo but he does not have hands because he is not allowed to work and does not have feet and legs because he is not allowed to move about.”