'Imagine risking your life in flimsy dinghy in search of a better future' - latest feature from Daventry U3A

Trisha, who worked as a nurse, has two grown up children. Between her and her second husband, Thomas, she also has five grandchildren.

I'm thinking about the deaths of 30 people who came across The Channel with hope and anticipation for a better life, leaving France and boarding a flimsy boat to England.

Seven children, seven women - one pregnant - and 20 men.

We don't know their circumstances, but they probably had to leave their homes due to warring factions. Their lives disrupted so that ordinary living was completely destroyed and left in fear for their lives and their children.

Can you imagine it? It is so far from our existence we cannot grasp their situation.

I feel so deeply for these people who escape to either Greece or Turkey where they are treated like vermin in some places.

They have no alternative but to listen to these silky voiced traffickers who promise new horizons in which to bring up their families, work and live a life due to them. So they give practically everything they have to pay for their passage to an imaginary Utopia,travelling through safe countries to get to France.

Being realistic we cannot take them all.

Gratefully we belong to a tolerant country but I know it's not fair when we have nothing to offer. All who come to our shores have to be vetted, to enable them to gain access with a profession or ability to live a life in England.

Where do they go if turned away?

These people have been betrayed by other human beings oblivious to their culture, religion etc.

Why does the world make money out of selling arms, where they are used in callous and evil ways?

I have tried so hard to find answers to these dilemmas that affect us today.

Why don't governments find compassion in their hearts and stop making money out of the sale of arms? It is an income for countries' monetary fund but surely we could supply AID not weapons which only destroy and cause severe problems that we see unfolding before us every day.

If you have feedback for Trisha, please email [email protected]