Helping those who cannot help themselves

I feel now is the time for the authorities to re-think the system used to give financial assistance to organisations that look after the needs of Maltese citizens who cannot look after themselves.

All the organisations that look after these citizens seem to be in desperate need of funding and Id-Dar tal-Providenza has now highlighted the precarious financial situation that affects them all.

I can speak from practical experience because I have been sitting on the board of Dar il-Kaptan, a respite home for the handicapped, for the last five years and every year we are desperately trying to find funds to keep the home functioning.

We skimp here, save there and fund-raise all over the islands but we never let the continuous lack of funds affect the standard of welfare of the clients of the home.

If it weren't for the fact that a benefactor died a few years ago and left a sum of money to the home, we would probably be in the same position as Id-Dar tal-Providenza. Our board would fight tooth and nail to keep the home running but it will be, and is, a very difficult annual task.

There are many homes around Malta and Gozo looking after the less fortunate and I am sure they are all serving a very worthwhile cause. They are also doing work the government would have to do itelf if they did not exist.

No one in his or her right mind would open a home for the fun of it. All homes are non-profit making and are very difficult to run and maintain. They are opened and run because there is a need for each and every one of them.

There should never be a situation, however, where the good people running these homes are desperately seeking funds and despairing as to where the next cent is coming from.

It is my opinion that in any country the people who should get top priority for funds and help from the government are those citizens who are unable to help themselves. Furthermore, those people who work to help those who cannot help themselves should get all the assistance they need to do their job properly.

I am not saying that every home for people with special needs can do and spend what they like. What I am saying is that after every home has arranged their administration and finances satisfactorily then the deficit should be made up for by the public purse. There is no taxpayer in Malta who should disagree with that sentiment. Each and every taxpayer should want and be happy to help as s/he can.

If all homes for people with special needs can show the authorities that after they have done all they can to keep costs down to a reasonable level without reducing standards they are still running at a deficit, then at this point they should be helped.

Things have changed so much over the past years and people are living longer, so there has to be a complete rethink of the social welfare system with regard to people with special needs and the assistance to their families.

Some parents of children with special needs tell me they are fortunate to have such a precious person to look after. To these people I give all my respect but in the case of the others who find it so hard to cope, I feel we should give them all the help we can.

And in the case of those wonderful people who spend all their day working with persons with special needs I not only salute them and all their efforts but I also augur they will be given every help at the country's disposal in order to go on with their very good work.