Convention 2000Summary of Conference of held at the Emigrants Commission by Leaders of Maltese Communities Overseas. Jan/Feb 2000. From as far as, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America, United Kingdom, France, Corfu, they came to assemble at Dar l-Emigrant on Monday 24th January 2000. This was for registration to participate in the Convention of Leaders of Associations of Maltese Abroad and of Maltese Origin. This was the beginning of a long awaited and longed for dream for the now ageing Maltese Migrant to establish some consensus from the little Mother Island that they left and overgrown its population some four times over. The buzzwords were "Why shouldn't we be counted." We have contributed economically and otherwise, and many of us paid a heavy price, through hardship, separation, isolation and language barriers to make room for those left behind. "The safety valve" was the term used to describe the mass migration that took place in the fifties soon after the end of the Second World War. The exchange of personal cards and stories that were to follow shrunk this unique globally spread species to almost a small family, reuniting after a long holiday. Everyone seemed to have some connection somehow. Whether they went to the same college or knew a relative, one soon realised that the stock came from a very singular root. It also started to emerge that whatever side of the hemisphere one got settled in, our needs were much the same. Source: 'Malta' - Maltese Culture Movement, Issues 4,5,6, 2000.
    
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