Samuel Berihu kneels by a puddle as he tries to fix a weathered bicycle he salvaged from the roadside.
Nearby, his fellow Eritrean explains that he shares his shoes with two other friends.
“We go to Valletta one at a time in these shoes,” he said, smiling at the absurdity of it.
No one could accuse these asylum seekers at Ħal Far open centre of living a life of luxury at taxpayers’ expense.
The tents that once housed residents were replaced last year with pre-fabricated dormitory cabins bought primarily with funds from the EU, but hardship remains.
“Would you want to live here?” asked Mr Berihu, 21, as he took a break from tinkering with the bicycle and gestured towards the cabins.
Inside, sheets are used as screens to create the illusion of privacy in the eight-bed dorms.
The centre’s 340 residents are mostly Somalis and Eritreans, with lesser numbers of West Africans and Syrians.
Like many of his fellow residents, Mr Berihu arrived in Malta in 2013. He lived hand to mouth on his monthly €130 allowance.
Aside from emergency funds, Malta has received some €91 million in EU funding to tackle migration issues over the past six years.
We go to Valletta one at a time in shared shoes
This includes €12.5 million from the European Refugee Fund and nearly €4 million from the European Integration Fund.
Despite this, there are regular charitable appeals for donations of blankets to the open centres to keep residents warm, with an appeal for 100 blankets issued just last week in a Facebook group dedicated to Ħal Far.
The Home Affairs Ministry said: “The generosity of individuals and organisations compliments state-funded aid to the residents of open centres.”
Upon their transfer from detention to open centres, residents are allocated basic services to assist them in restarting their lives, a ministry spokeswoman explained.
“Residents are then normally expected to enter into the labour market in order to gradually achieve fuller independence from state aid and charity, in order for them to move on to the next step in their lives.
“We believe that this approach respects their dignity,” she added.
Somali resident Hussain Mohamed Abikar explained that residents now have two blankets each in the sparse but generally clean and warm cabins.
Some complained that the solar-heated showers were cold, but Mr Abikar said this was only the case when everyone tried to shower at the same time in the morning.
“Life is quite good here,” said Mr Abikar, who regularly earns €35 per day labouring.
“Most people here want to be free to leave Malta because it is small and opportunities are limited, but life is not bad.”
Fellow Somali Abdi Rahman arrived in Malta last May.
Aged 17, he is classed as a minor and his official protection status has yet to be determined, so he is without a work permit.
He would like to live away from the open centre but cannot afford it until he is able to earn a living.
“Those who can work have to wake up at 4am to go to catch the bus to Marsa,” he said, adding that the relative isolation of Ħal Far meant bicycles were a prized asset among the residents.
Most people here want to be free to leave Malta because it is small and opportunities are limited, but life is not bad
Mr Rahman explained that he, like many others, depended heavily on charitable donations of clothes and blankets.
The young man actually lived in a neighbouring centre for minors but would come to Ħal Far daily to share food with friends.
“If we close the doors and windows, we don’t feel the cold,” he said, as someone else lying in the room stirred from underneath a tattered quilt.
The Home Affairs Ministry allocates some €1.8 million annually to the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers, which runs the open centres, as well as providing other programmes.
This budget does not come from EU funds, the ministry said.
An additional €2 million is allocated annually for the daily allowance of AWAS service users.
The EU Refugee and Integration Funds are used to finance the bulk of costs of specific projects aimed at helping the country “adequately and safely receive refugees and displaced persons”, as well as helping them integrate into Maltese society.
According to figures provided by the ministry, €236,000 from the Refugee Fund has been earmarked for the purchase of beds and bedding for the open centres in an ongoing project.