But that is exactly what the Meli family from Marsa did in the past months. They opened their doors to four wonderful children, Igor, Peter, Dimitri and Nadia, three brothers and a sister, who brightened up their lives. Although the family had to make sacrifices, their reward was immensely greater in human terms as their life was enriched beyond imagination.

I had the privilege to visit the Meli family in their Marsa home earlier this week and spoke to the parents Philip and Dorothy and their son Malcolm, about their experience hosting Russian refugees. Their home is very welcoming and I could immediately feel a sense of warmth and happiness that was almost infectious.

I first spoke to Malcom, a burly youth and asked him about his experiences with his four “new” siblings. “I felt completely different when the four children came and at the same time, I also felt a huge void when they left, although Dmitri is still with us. It was a huge change for myself and my sister but it was an experience that I will cherish forever and I am missing them greatly now”, Malcolm says, in an unassuming and quiet fashion.

“My life was pretty normal before but when they came, my life changed completely, as you have to love, share and give much more than you ever did before. I remember a particular occasion from the many when the children wanted to wash my car and we ended up washing each other instead in the street,” Malcolm chuckles.

I asked Malcolm whether he would consider hosting children at his home when he has a family and the answer was a very definitive yes. “I certainly would because such unfortunate children need all the help they can get,” Malcolm said.

I could sense that the youth had grown very fond of these boisterous orphans. In the meantime, a sprightly Dimitri came into the room and asked me if I wanted anything to drink with a cool gesture of his hand.

I began to realise what warmth and joy these children had brought to the Meli household as I sat talking to Philip, an unassuming and quiet man who is really missing the children.

But how did the Meli family decide to bring the four Russian children into their home and what actually happened in the process?

“We first saw an advert on television and the idea took root. Besides, my brother-in-law is a member of the group that brings these orphans to Malta, and as the feeling that we had to something became even more urgent we decided to take the plunge and host some of these unfortunate orphans for a holiday here.

“Dimitri came first in September 2003 and left in November. My wife and daughter went to Russia and met his siblings at the orphanage, with Dimitri returning for a month to have a small operation. In December the three siblings came and stayed with us for a few months,” Philip says with evident emotion.

How was life with the Russian orphans, I asked Philip? “Each of them are different. The older brother is still traumatised and he is very reserved. The girl suffered greatly and it is clear that she is also traumatised while the younger brother still has some pent up anger in him,” Philip says.

Still, Philip is no stranger to an extended family as just a week after his wedding, his wife’s mother died and her four sisters came to live with them for a while.

“I felt that these four orphans needed help and the girl (Nadia) needed medical assistance. I was determined to bring her at any cost and to bring her brothers over to have a break from their miserable life. At first, we had great difficulty communicating but slowly we bonded and they were accepted in our family. I am not a person who does things by half measures and I went all out for this experience and now I can truly say that it has been magnificent,” Philip said.

The conversation then switched to Dorothy, the mother figure for the children. How was the day to day life with the children, I asked?

“The children were never any trouble, quite the opposite in fact as they always volunteered to do the household chores. I had nothing but assistance and co-operation from the children,” Dorothy said.

I asked if she would be ready to go do it all over again and received an emphatic yes for an answer “The only obstacle to bring the children over again is money as it is obviously quite expensive to fly them to Malta. You cannot believe how they came to us, practically just the clothes they were wearing and nothing else. When I asked them if they had any clean underwear, they didn’t even have those and we had to go out and buy clothes for all of them the next day,” Dorothy said. It is indeed incredible that in today’s developed world, these children have nothing, absolutely nothing.

What sort of assistance did the Meli family receive from others? We did get help as people gave us clothes, potatoes and other things apart from emotional support,” Dorothy said. How did the children feel when they left? “There were emotional scenes. They loved our food so much as they are barely given enough to survive at the orphanage. The boys used to love pizza and they told me that there is no chance of ever having that in Russia now. However we keep in touch by phoning them once a week so Dmitri can talk to them. And every week they keep asking when they can come back,” Dorothy tells me.

We then spoke about Dmitri who urgently requires an eye operation. After the family’s appearance on Bondiplus, St Philip’s Hospital offered to do the operation for free, which is a measure of the impact the children had on local TV viewers.

“We have been inundated with calls offering assistance, financial help and all sorts of things for the children. The Maltese heart is indeed generous and lately I cannot even step out of the door of my home without being stopped by someone giving me encouragement or offering help. Lots of people have also phoned to inquire how they can bring other children on holiday,” Dorothy says.

The Meli family feel they have achieved their aim as they wanted to bring the public’s attention to these children’s plight in the hope that others would be interested in helping being some joy into their lives. I asked about the conditions that prevail in these Russian orphanages.

“The conditions can only be described as horrendous. Sometimes I felt that I was in a concentration camp,” Dorothy says as she recalls her visit.

“The orphanages have no drainage system, the beds have no blankets and the food is miserable. The children first ate meat in Malta and I had to cut it up into small pieces because they were not accustomed to eating it. On their return journey, we gave the children huge stacks of provisions so that they could at least live decently for a few months,” Dorothy said.

The children had never seen a roll of toilet paper as they used to use copybooks. There is also practically no light and electrical equipment at the orphanage and the children have to make a 15-minute trek to have a bath once a week. Are we really living in the 21st century?

At first, Dorothy was apprehensive but when the children came, the family’s life was incalculably enriched. “We were one big happy family. It was as if we had known them and they us all our lives,” Dorothy said. Philip also used to take Peter and Dmitri to his job down at the port and they used to enjoy it immensely.

Dorothy and Philip are determined to continue helping the Russian orphanages through their work and other fund raising activities. An account is also being opened at Bank of Valletta to assist Dmitri in his operation.

Any excess funds will be used so that the children will be able to come back for further holidays.

Dmitri looked at me with his beautiful eyes. As I walked out into the street, I felt dazed. Dazed by the cruelty and injustice of this world and the abject poverty that is still part of this world. But, Dmitri’s smile came back for a moment and that made all the difference.

A bazaar will be held from

18 to 24 October at the Oratory in Qormi to raise funds for the assistance of Russian orphanages