One sees various construction sites around the island but one building site near the top of Labour Avenue in Naxxar is quite different and unique.

The project is the brainchild of Connie Camilleri, chairperson of Fondazzjoni Ħajja Indipendenti, whose life-long passion and ambition was the setting up of the foundation in 1991, with the sole aim of promoting independent living in the community for persons with physical disabilities.

The building earmarked for completion towards the end of this year is exclusively designed, finished and furnished for the specific needs of persons with disability to live an independent lifestyle.

This project, the first of its kind in Malta, consists of a complex of 10 independent apartments, with full accessibility throughout, communal interior space and outdoor grounds, swimming pool, lifts, parking facilities, cleaning and assistance services and equipped with the necessary support equipment.

The project is being built on property valued at €800,000, which Connie Camilleri inherited from her parents and which she decided to donate to the foundation.

Apart from the value of the site, Notre Dame, as the project is called, is estimated to cost around €900,000 when complete. As a non-profit NGO, The Fondazzjoni Ħajja Indipendenti expects to finance this project in the long-term by means of favourable lease agreements to persons with disabilities. Three residences are already leased and persons with disability are showing keen interest in this project and the benefits it offers enabling them to enjoy an independent lifestyle.

The first major accomplishment of the foundation was the setting up in Balzan, the foundation’s headquarters, of a permanent display of a wide range of apparatus enabling persons with disability to inspect and try out any apparatus before buying it. The trustees of Fondazzjoni Ħajja Indipendenti are Joseph A. Gasan, Nevile Curmi, Oliver De Giorgio, Tracy Rizzo and Marisa Azzopardi.