Toilet paper is stuffed into cracks in the walls to keep out cockroaches and rats. Despite the three-room home being otherwise clean, the mouldy, peeling walls lend an air of dilapidation to the place.

The rooms are blanketed in darkness because the family cannot afford to use electricity. Sitting on her bed in a corner, an 18-year-old who has an intellectual disability rocks to and fro in the shadows.

Their house is in a state of disrepair. Photos: Mark Zammit Cordina

Her sister, 15, fiddles on a mobile phone while their niece, three years old, wraps herself up in a blanket and lets out a hacking cough.

The elder girls’ mother, 55-year-old Antonia Falzon Grima, shuffles out of one of the rooms wearily. She explains that her eldest daughter and the child's mother were out working two part-time jobs.

She also says, with a hint of a smile, that her 20-year-old son, who has Type 1 diabetes, has passed an exam to become a security officer. He hopes he will be offered a job which will be of some help in alleviating the family out of poverty.

“I’d like to work myself – maybe as a cleaner, even though my back hurts,” Ms Falzon Grima says.

“The doctor says it’s arthritis. I was once very thin – now I’m bloated... probably it’s because of all the pills the doctor tells me to take to treat my depression.”

Ms Falzon Grima has been separated for the past 13 years after finding herself the victim of domestic abuse.

Pulling through each day is a struggle, she says.

“Recently, we spent an entire week eating bread and butter. I’ve forgotten what meat tastes like”.

We spent an entire week eating bread and butter

She is up to her ears in debts, owing her nearby grocer some €500 and needing to pay €2,000 in utility bills as well as arrears of social housing rent and telephone bills, the latter of which has been cut off.

The family has been approached by the NGO Daqqa t’Id, which is trying to help the family break the vicious cycle of poverty.

Director Charles Saliba explains that the house needs maintenance and the family needed to be helped break the poverty cycle.

“Clinical depression can lead to a certain sense of lethargy, which can drag down surrounding members of the family. Priscilla is completely unmotivated to pursue her secondary school education but she would like to study to become a nail technician.

“They need to be helped with finding jobs related to their specific needs which would help wean them off welfare benefits and afford them a decent quality of life. Even the elder daughter is earning very little, despite juggling two part-time jobs.

“The house is cold and humid, and they have no heaters or fans. With some help and motivation to counter the dispiriting effects of mental health problems, this neglected family can start to eat properly and be furnished with the basic comforts of life.”

Donations can be made by phoning one of the following numbers: 51502082: €5; 51602025: €10; 51702026: €15; 51802093: €25 and 51902056: €50. The NGO can be contacted on 9902 6827 or via daqqatid@gmail.com.