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Follow Up: Solidarity meals Malta – Playing journalist! (Year 9 – Year 11)

In Malta although the COVID-19 pandemic is relatively contained, the people on the risk of poverty is still a reality. Even though the government has introduced several schemes to assist the employers and employees there are still individuals who can’t get a decent meal daily unless assisted by other associations:

These people include:

• Individuals who prior to COVID-19 outbreak already had low income
• The elderly who live alone and cannot receive any help from their neighbours
• Parents who have children with severly disability who can no longer use respite services
• Homeless people
• Foreigners who lost their job and are not entitled to unemployment benefits or government benefits on rent
• Those who fear they will not be able to pay rent due to reduced income
• People who suffer from mental health issues
• People who are dependent on drugs and cannot attend rehabilitation programmes
• Children and women who suffer from domestic abuse

Luckily a team of volunteers assisted by Caritas Malta are providing individuals with a decent meal each day. They have re-opened the kitchen of the restaurant that had to close because of the measures of social distancing to prepare these solidarity meals. Read this article.

Several local councils are also assisting their communities by delivering meals to those in need.

Would you consider joining any of these teams of volunteers to provide food? Aren’t you afraid that you might get infected with the virus?

Some people are more concerned about being robbed of their dignity other than going without food. To beg for food is something nobody should be doing and yet in different parts of the world many people each day have to beg for food. They have no choice.

Imagine you are a journalist and you will be allowed to ask a couple of questions to the Minister in a live broadcast session to investigate if these people in the list above are all  being catered for either by the responsible Ministry or the voluntary associations? Express your concerns by preparing a set of questions.

Share them with us and we will try to pass them on to an independent journalist to ask in your name unless you can come up with some other ideas yourself!