Żejtun councillor Joan Agius has been awarded the Peace Lab’s B’Hilti Wasalt award for her work within the community despite several personal obstacles.

The award, supported by APS Bank and launched last year, celebrates people who started off risking falling into poverty but managed to overcome their problems on their own and also improved the life of those around them.

Ms Agius, who married at 15, lost her second daughter and was also involved in a traffic accident among others. Throughout the years she launched activity programmes for kids, people with a disability and the elderly, including an activity where schoolchildren ‘adopt’ a resident at an old people’s home.