I have been childminding these last days my sister’s little boy. He knows nothing of war at 5 years old, he picks up his tablet and plays games. This morning we went to visit the second world war shelters here in Mellieha. I explained that this place was made to protect people during the war so that would not be hurt.
We looked at a metal helmet and when he asked what that was for I said it was for protecting the person’s head when they wore it during the war.
He spent the rest of the visit looking for hats to count, a little exercise because he is learning how to count.
The museum attendant asked he on the way out whether he had been scared, he shook his head. He hadn’t been scared, there was only a few people and there was nothing to be scared about, the shelter was lit and airy and the visit was over in less than 30 min. What a stark contrast to the experience of people now in occupied Mariupol I think and say nothing.
When my nephew left to go home that shield away from war was again lifted to find Putin had issued the order to essentially starve people in the steel factory in Mariupol. He’d bombed the shelters with cluster bombs and chemical bombs. These children are no different than my nephew must have been terrified, even if they wanted to flee they are not able to.
We are now spectating genocide in the making.
