Henwood

Hello Jonathan!

Have you got some time to bear with me and ask you a few questions please?

First of all, how was your day? How did you spend it?

I woke up at 5.30 but slept again till 6.00. Went off to mass at 7.30. At 8.00 i went to sample for my thesis on pools and stayed till 1.00. At about 10.00 i prayed in the countryside... for once cos i usually do so in my room.

    Then i went home and had lunch and worked on my computer doing school stuff... At 4 i left for the MAGIS live-in 2003 part 2 at Fekruna.... and slept early cos tomorrow i have work... :(

Now that we got a closer look at who this Jonathan is, we'd like to have a
closer look at you. To you, who is the guy in the photo above?

    Well to me he is me... the picture the guy sent you is when i was doing a uni project at St. Paul's Bay with MZP.

    So i consider myself a happy person, though my past life may not have seemed so... but i got over that and am happy to be me. I consider myself someone who tries to take his spiritual side seriously (though the rest of his life is not so serious), and though i falter a lot i try...

I guess that is me in a jiffy, although it is difficult to compress me...

I know that last summer you've been to Ethiopia to make voluntary work
over there. Can you share with us one or two experiences?
During August 2003 i had the opportunity to visit Ethiopia to work with the Missionaries of Charity (Sisters of Mother Theresa) together with 7 other Maltese guys. We stayed there for a month and worked in a "hospital" which the Sisters have. We did an innumerable amount of jobs from peeling oranges to playing drafts with the sick to staying with the dying during their last moments.

    On the last day, before we left, an orphaned teenager who was  living in the Childrens' home of the Maltese Franciscan Sisters, asked me where i was going. I told her i was going home. She asked if i had a family and reluctantly i said yes. She didn't utter a word anymore for a few minutes... So i learnt that though my family is not the best one in the world and my parents are not the best parents or the best role models, i should thank God that i do have a family in which i can grow and have an education, and become me. So, moral of the story: Be glad to have a family, however awkward or funny it may be... and thank God for your family.

    Another incident i can remember, amongst the numerous ones, is when i went, on the day before the last to pray with the Missionaries of Charity during the 1hour Adoration they have everyday... The atmosphere was calm and serene and all i can say is that it was one of the best moments of my life... though i did not think much and uttered not a word but silently looked at Jesus in the form of the Host. This fired my spiritual journey there, together with mass in the morning the next day. Only prayer and Eucharist had supported me on the whole way cos' otherwise i would have gone bonkers....

The journey i began i am still living and i am still discovering the fruits God has planted in me in Ethiopia...

Finally what would you like to tell those chaps out there behind their
screen reading this interview?
If its a girl- "need a date" and if its a guy- "sorry i am straight"...

Joking apart... i really don't know what to say cos i really don't know who they are... but all i can guess is that each of them is a lovely person inside, a treasure to be discovered by their own self.

Asking how i know or how will you see the treasure? Well, all i can say is that a friend will help you see through yourself, ad the best of friends to help you is God.

Never say i am not a treasure... accept reality... you are. And... God loves you, though you think it is not so many times.

Salamne

Denahun

(meaning Bye and Good night in Amharic, the Ethiopian language)

Jonathan, thanks a lot for your time, and thanks for having let us know
you a bit more.