Integrating in Malta - Keeping the faith

Adekemi H. Boyo-Obayuwana is not one to give up. When she first came to Malta, she found it difficult to integrate – yet she persisted and, two and a half years later, things have improved a lot. Adekemi, or Addey for short, is from Lagos, Nigeria, where she studied accounting. She is 37 years old and came to Malta to join her husband, Michael, an engineer who works in the communications industry. "My first shock when I came to Malta was when I realised how small the island is – it's like you can walk around the island in a day. "I was also shocked at the treatment I received from some people – I would greet them and they would not respond, instead looking at me as if I had fallen from heaven. I remember how once, I went into a shop and to buy soft drinks. When it was my turn to be attended to, the shopkeeper just looked at me, turned his back and went inside the shop, leaving me standing there. "But since my husband and I moved to Qormi, things have changed – some people greet me on their own volition and others respond to my greetings." Sabrina Zammit, Addey and Michael's neighbour, has only good things to say about the Nigerian couple. "They're very quiet. It makes no...