About Malta
Malta is a small island country in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea. Its closest neighbours are Sicily, to the north, and Libya and Tunisia on the North African coast, to the south and west respectively. Malta is made up of an archipelago of islands, the three largest of which are inhabited. The islands are mainly low, rocky and flat. Malta has many coastal cliffs.
Region
Population
525,200 (2022)
Area
315 square kilometres
High Commissioner
H.E. Emmanuel Mallia
Capital
Valletta
Joined Commonwealth
1964 following independence from Britain
Episode guests
H.E. Emmanuel Mallia
High Commissioner for Malta
H.E. Emmanuel Mallia has been the High Commissioner for Malta in the UK since 2021. Prior to that he was an MP in the Maltese Government holding a number of Ministerial posts. He is a lawyer by profession and lectured in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at the University of Malta.
Lil Ommi (To My Mother)
First verse only
Benninni ħa norqod,
Benninni bil-ħlewwa,
Kull diqa nessini,
Nessini kull dnewwa;
L-Innu ta'Filgħaxija (A Hymn for the Evening)
Night is approaching, O Lord,
Bearing a promise of rest.
Crimson is decking the sky
While sets the sun in the west.
Soon will the stars show their face
Filling the heavens up high,
Soon will the living retire,
Silence: when all noises die.
[R.] Thou, who the glorious dawn,
Dwellest, of nev’rending Day:
Shelter us when falls the night,
Peace in our hearts, sweetly lay.
Our day is done, gentle Lord,
Split between labour and rest,
Fractured by sorrow, sometimes,
Sometimes with merriment blest.
All from thy bounty comes forth,
Father of mercy, above,
Who all thy creatures desirest
Joyous with naught but thy love.
//R.
Stand by our poor brethren, Lord,
Clothe them, their sustenance give,
Comfort the crying, the tir’d
Well may they rest and may live.
Sweetly draw sinners to thee,
Though they have reddened thy face
Let no one lie down in fear,
Biding chastisement, but grace.
//R.
