Children are a priority
I feel privileged to work alongside a team of people of varying ages, who come from different spheres of society and who work together to embody the phrase ‘Politics Becomes Words’.
We have worked together and seen what lies behind the closed doors of Gozitan families. We visited them, and today the picture we have of the poor in Gozo is clear. From the beginning of last week till the 3rd of December, our focus has been on children in poverty. We met up more than usual, and we discussed, learnt from experts, visited children who live with their families and those who are in care and encounter social problems.
We have solemnly sworn that we will be that drop in the ocean which can make a difference in these children’s lives. Despite the statistics showing that in 2015 there were 18,908 (22.9%) children in poverty, six years later, that is in 2021, it decreased to 17,013 (19.5%). It took six years in order for the amount to decrease by 1,895. Despite the mantra of success, during those years this has suddenly stopped. Who knows what figures would be published in the present, when the Maltese and the Gozitan people are feeling the pressure of the high cost of living on the most essential things in life?
Our aim (we work closely with families who encounter social problems and are not coping with the demands of life), is for our children to be at the heart of politics. Every step that is to be implemented will better their quality of life and that of their families.
A process must be organised to help each individual reach their full potential, as children are facing challenges and not being provided with the bare necessities. The initiative of their parents in order to bring forth a better quality of life is important, but it is not enough. We have to work as hard as we can to beat inequality and discrimination. We have to work against polarization. This brings about poverty too.
We have to work so that we can strike a balance between rights and responsibilities, we have to work towards a kinder and inclusive society. I regret to say that these values are not being tackled. It is our duty to push these virtues forward in order to leave Malta in a better state than how it was in our ancestors’ time.
The challenge of child poverty is a complex and discriminatory one. We know that around 100,000 families have a minimum income of around €10,000 a year, and some families have even less than that.
These families are encountering the challenge of relative poverty and they do not have the necessary resources to eat, to participate in activities and have a normal standard of living like other children. It is evident that poverty tends to be inherited. Scientific studies clearly show how badly these children perform at school, they have a less than desirable quality of health and they are excluded from society.
Human resources continue to remain the most indispensable thing. This means that we have to fight and we cannot permit our children to remain without basic skills. History keeps repeating itself, and when these children grow up, they will struggle to find employment (or find a precarious job), remain excluded, get caught in the poverty trap.
This week, we asked how teachers and head teachers in schools notice children who need support for the most basic things. We asked, too, about funding in our schools for this purpose. Have we seen how one particular parent requested help for uniforms in these past years? How much support are teachers given in order to be able to notice and identify these children who lack basic needs and are in a state of poverty?
We have noticed how certain parents do everything in their power so that the poverty that their children encounter remains hidden. This might be a problem for teachers and head teachers when it comes to identifying certain cases. Communication with teachers remains limited due to GDPR as well.
The children usually come from economic disintegration (families who encounter economic disaster). This means that families are struggling in their everyday lives in order to buy the most basic items, like food and clothes. They cannot live a normal and active social life.
During this campaign we have a lot of things to learn and discover. Whatever we observe, we will bring before the Nationalist Party that we represent so that we can continue appealing for measures in favour of social inclusion. We appeal that these measures are implemented carefully and not for the purpose of advertisement. We have felt that the reality of social inclusion has become a common factor among our children. This is evident.
Whoever would like to help or get to know more about what we are doing can contact us on 77480241.