When Ġorġ Zammit’s life savings dried up after spending four years out of work because of an illness, he started accumulating debt.

As the bills piled up, he spent every waking minute thinking of how to “stretch” his monthly income. Often, the anxiety kept him up at night.

The father-of-two is appealing for understanding and empathy as he knows that there are people who are not yet convinced that poverty is a reality in Malta.

He was speaking to this newspaper from the kitchen of his St Paul’s Bay government housing apartment. He leafed through a file with plastic sleeves containing bills, notifications, receipts and other correspondence.

The man fell ill some eight years ago and had to stop working. For the first four years he managed to keep up with the expenses as he had saved up money while working as a cleaner with the civil service.

He underwent several medical interventions, including the removal of two tumors from his abdomen, and started regaining his health around a year ago. However, Mr Zammit’s condition has not allowed him to return to work.

This means that he is dependent on unemployment and sickness benefits, totalling some €600 a month.

His main worry remains the accumulating debt he believes he will never be able to settle in full

The family of four receives the children’s allowance, which is, however, absorbed by clothes and school expenses, among other things.

The man admitted that he has found support in the community, and also from Appoġġ social workers. However, when he appealed for help, he was told that he earned enough to survive, but was never shown how he was supposed to keep up with the expenses.

He has had to resort to his own means of budgeting, he said, as he listed the expenses the family had to keep up with.

The housing rent, which is due every three months, amounts to €188, and this excludes utility bills and common area expenses.

He has accumulated debt on both the rent and the utility bills, but has reached an agreement to pay off a fraction each month. The pending water and electricity bill totals more than €1,700.

However, he does not always manage to cut off as much debt as he would like to because of unplanned expenses, which this year included the refurbishment of the apartment block’s common area.

Meanwhile, his son’s sudden cold meant he had to fork out €10 for the doctor’s visit and another €50 for medicine, as the ones provided by the health service were out of stock.

The family tries to stretch its resources by diluting the dishwashing liquid soap for example, Mr Zammit said, as he opened the fridge-freezer behind him, exposing its bare shelves.

If he could, he would switch off the freezer at the bottom when the frozen items run out, just to save on electricity consumption.

Mr Zammit noted that one of the things that had pushed him to speak out was the lack of conviction that poverty was a reality in Malta.

His family does not own a car, and they use their bus cards sparingly.

They have had to get rid of the telephone landline and instead use a simple, old mobile phone on a monthly contract of €25 for unlimited calls.

Asked about internet access in the house, Mr Zammit said that when his eldest son needed to go online, he would head to the village square to access free Wi-Fi.

Some of the appliances, such as the TV set, are donations, while a small heater is switched to the minimum heat bar to warm up the house.

His main worry remains the accumulating debt, which he believes he will never be able to settle in full.

“Come see with your own eyes, I have nothing to hide,” he urged those who insist poverty is nonexistent.

Every month, the family of four spends nearly half its income on food. Their diet consists mainly of canned food, packed noodles and frozen fast food such as chicken nuggets. They can only afford to eat fresh meat once a fortnight. Fish is out of the question, and sometimes a meal is cornflakes.

Mr Zammit’s family is not alone. The bland, cheap meal alternative is what one woman lives on, because she cannot afford to heat her food, according to St Andrew’s Scotts church food bank administrator Reverend Kim Hurst.

Interviewed for Times Talk last week, Rev. Hurst spoke of the hidden poverty caused by myriad social, economic and health problems, something that was then reiterated by Millennium Chapel director Hilary Tagliaferro.

Fr Tagliaferro believes that people are not yet culturally convinced that there are poor families in Malta.