Article prompts aid efforts for Valletta poor

An article in The Times earlier this year, highlighting the extent of the poverty in Valletta's notorious Mandragg area, has attracted the attention of a number of benefactors while around Lm500 have been sent to the parish of St Augustine for the cause from every quarter.

The ITC company 6pm and its employees are raising funds to provide the parish priest, Fr Saviour Grima, with a monthly amount of money that would be "sufficient for the subsistence and daily needs of a number of families, who struggle to get by even on a day-to-day basis".

Earlier in the year, the company had taken a decision to identify a cause in Malta to which it could make a sustained and substantial contribution.

After reading the article on the situation in the Mandragg - which highlighted its enormous social problems, including drugs, gambling, usury, abuse and theft - 6pm contacted Fr Saviour to look into the type of help required.

Its directors actually toured the area and met its residents to assess the situation. They were touched - if not shocked - at the level of poverty that exists on the island, they said.

Following discussions with Fr Grima, it has been agreed that he would manage the money and no monetary contributions would be given directly to the families.

Being socially and ethically conscious, the company has, over the years, identified, supported and sponsored a number of charity events in Malta and in the UK.

Following the publication of the article in The Times, other fund-raising and charitable initiatives were immediately suggested to Fr Grima by members of the commercial community and residents. But these have not yet materialised.

Julian Sammut of Rubino restaurant, up the road from the St Augustine priory, came up with the idea of getting a number of businesses and law firms in the area to agree to donate Lm25 a month to a welfare/emergency fund so the parish priest would have extra cash immediately available to help deal with and satisfy the daily urgent needs, some of which are desperate.

The funds could also have been allocated towards a social worker to work on, for example, the problem of gambling, Mr Sammut had suggested.

Many of the people donating spent much of their lives in this part of Malta, he said.

"I have been close to this area (spreading from Hastings down to the Manoel Theatre and Marsamxetto Harbour) for some years now, know several people, and would have never imagined the squalor and misery behind the scenes is on such a large scale," Mr Sammut said.

A steady source of income would empower the parish priest to set up a regular food service, or private lesson teacher, organise a child's birthday party, or buy emergency medication, he maintained.

Valletta resident Mark Micallef was quick to come up with the idea of setting up the original concept of the "eating Church", based on the Vesper-kirche of Stuttgart (vesper meaning eating), whereby a kitchen is set up and the poor are fed inside the Church.

Dr Micallef proposed following the successful model and setting up a kitchen to provide hearty, healthy meals for the poor within the priory in Old Bakery Street during the colder winter months.

The idea, however, has not yet been picked up by the parish.

The Lm500 have arrived from outside Valletta - from Maltese who were impressed by the standard of living of some of the residents in the area and wanted to help.

A family is sending in a monthly cheque, Fr Grima said.

The money, he said, is being spent on food for about 15 poor families in the area. Every month, Lm150 (Lm10 each) is spent on food for them. Medicine is also bought for three families, while another has its medical fees paid.

"These families just cannot keep up with life," Fr Grima said. Most of them are unemployed, but have to make ends meet to bring up children.

However, it is not just financial assistance that is pouring in. People who are refurbishing their homes have passed on the furniture they are not using to Valletta residents, while a hotel has given its unused beds, curtains, bedspreads, carpets and other furniture. Even new items have been sent in, Fr Grima said.

"Some of these people have nothing in their homes," he said, adding that they are checked out before they are given the items.

The home of one young mother has three rooms that do not have tiles as she had no money to pay someone to continue the job, he said.

The parish has also set up what is called a Good Neighbourhood Scheme, whereby a leader is appointed for every street and knows the needs of its residents.

It is also collaborating with the YMCA on a government care and repair project, whereby the NGO is helping them to apply for funding.

However, despite the help that is flowing in, social workers are still required, Fr Grima said, maintaining that they were unwilling to drive into Valletta due to the new payment system, which the parishioners seemed to be opposed to for a variety of reasons.

A social worker was supposed to come to Valletta three times a week, but had narrowed it down to once, he said.