We, the Maltese, do have our defects and deficiencies. We grumble too much, inane zekzik is a national pastime; we are too noisy and have a kind of distorted social conscience. Our good points, however, more than amply compensate for all this: foremost amongst these are our generosity and a deep sense of concern and caring for others.
Our Christianity is the result of our generosity. The narrative of St Paul’s Shipwreck provides ample proof for this statement. The Maltese received the Word because of their generous act of hospitality. This impressed Luke, the writer of the narrative, so much that he recorded it in the Acts of the Apostles. Had our ancestors been less generous with those shipwrecked we would not have become Christians.
No recession of generosity
This year, once more, we experienced Christmas as the season to be generous. When one tots up the money donated to L-Istrina, the political parties, Id-Dar tal-Providenza (still to come on January 1), RTK’s campaign for needy families and other fund raising activities we would end up with a sum that would easily surpass the €3 million euro. This is a big sum by any standards but it becomes more impressive during a time of a recession. As the President of the Republic aptly said, there is no recession in the value of generosity!
L-istrina is a success story that has gone from strength to strength from year to year. Like other great success stories, it had a humble beginning. Some thirteen, or so, years ago, Sylvana Cristina (then head of TV Programmes at PBS) had contacted Joe (now Peppi) Azzopardi to help Maria Bugeja organise a fundraiser during the Christmas period. It was such a success that it was decided to develop the idea into an annual event. PBS was the broadcaster of the event; Peppi became its soul and symbol. It had a chequered history but little by little it became a national celebration of generosity and solidarity. There were controversies as well. Some objected to the video clips, others to the donation of gifts. However, most probably, these helped to build L-Istrina to its present grandeur. It was a price well paid!
Giving without receiving, sort of
This year’s L-Istrina coincided with the fifth anniversary of the murderous Tsunami. It had happened during the transmission of L-Istrina. I remember Dr Alfred Sant referring to if while giving his donation. The presenter, Peppi Azzopardi, immediately reacted to the news given by Dr Sant. “We should hold another L-Istrina for the victims of the Tsunami.” The Maltese donated close to two million euro for L-Istrina and a week later, they donated just over one million euro the Tsunami edition L-Istrina. That edition, like the edition held this year, offered no gifts to those who donated money.
By Presidential charisma
This year’s L-Istrina esperienced another very important development. It passed from the hands of PBS – who had hosted and carried it for all these years – into the hands of the President of the Republic. L-Istrina now has a national leader at its helm. The resources of the Presidential Office are much greater than those that had been available to PBS. Besides, the great prestige, charisma and distinct organisational abilities of the President and his wife could help L-Istrina make a qualitative leap forward. What was a one off occurrence five years ago – L-Istrina without gifts – could now become the order of the day. This created a win-win situation. Those who were annoyed by the gift giving could now feel at home with the new set up. Those who always said, e.g. the original organisers that the Maltese would donate even if no gifts are given could see whether they were right or wrong.
President Abela worked hard towards this end. He built a good team. The people once more rose to the occasion. Donations rolled in. President Abela, the rest of his team and the Maltese people should have toasted themselves before going to sleep on the night between last Saturday and last Sunday. The rest, as they say is history.
No post-mortems, just suggestions
L-Istrina needs no post mortems since there is no “mortem”, but I would like to offer some thoughts for the consideration of the organisers.
The organisation was superb; the show was slick, the set grandiose and the entertainment very good. It must have cost money, but it was money well spent. All those responsible deserve full marks. Let us not forget, however, that L-Istrina is about collecting money not providing entertainment. The latter must never compromise the former. In this regard, one could perhaps check whether the length of certain entertainment and other spots interfered in any way with the flow of telephone calls.
The organisers should also compare the number of individuals phoning in with that of previous years. This would give a better idea of people’s participation. Quite naturally, one has to keep in mind the current recession. A similar comparison should be done for donations by businesses. One gets the impression that businesses contributed more than previous years. The President had made a public appeal, and one understands private calls, to help businesses rise to the occasion. There is room for a lot of improvement here. Their contribution can rise even more next year so that it becomes equivalent to the amount that businesses used to give as gifts distributed in previous editions.
It is very clear that the profile of the Community Chest Fund will rise in the coming months. This is definitively positive. However, one has to mind that its profile and fund raising activities will not rise so much that the other NGO’s will be in anyway negatively affected, something that the CCF surely does not want.
The Maltese people deserve all the praise showered on them by President Abela.