Hondoq ir-Rummien – dream or nightmare?
Published on Malta Today and The Sunday Times on 24th December, 2006.
I was sitting at Hondoq ir-Rummien near a spot known as Ghar il-Bemberin. I looked around and saw only an open vista, Comino so close, the chapel on top of the cliff and the clean, clear azure waters of the bay. Capers were in full bloom among the other flora indigenous to this area. If one wants to escape the madness of everyday life, then Hondoq is the place to come.
Them I open my eyes – there is a makeshift road passing by Ghar il-Bemberin; trucks and bulldozers running back and forth; Comino is no longer visible with the dust they kick up; dust and debris blankets all the plants. The chapel is invisible as buildings rise and the waters are polluted. Noise and traffic on land and sea. The little ‘Garden of Eden’ has become just another stone and steel ulcer! And the bulldozers are still eating away at the land, never satisfied.I ask readers this question: which is the dream, and which the nightmare? I won’t say because the answer is obvious.
Joanna Cauchi
Qala, Gozo
I was sitting at Hondoq ir-Rummien near a spot known as Ghar il-Bemberin. I looked around and saw only an open vista, Comino so close, the chapel on top of the cliff and the clean, clear azure waters of the bay. Capers were in full bloom among the other flora indigenous to this area. If one wants to escape the madness of everyday life, then Hondoq is the place to come.
Them I open my eyes – there is a makeshift road passing by Ghar il-Bemberin; trucks and bulldozers running back and forth; Comino is no longer visible with the dust they kick up; dust and debris blankets all the plants. The chapel is invisible as buildings rise and the waters are polluted. Noise and traffic on land and sea. The little ‘Garden of Eden’ has become just another stone and steel ulcer! And the bulldozers are still eating away at the land, never satisfied.I ask readers this question: which is the dream, and which the nightmare? I won’t say because the answer is obvious.
Joanna Cauchi
Qala, Gozo
posted by Hondoq at
5:46 PM
