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Some choices, we do not make. There is no warranting for the twists and turns of life. Often, in the stories of children seeking admission into St. Joseph’s Home, the level of trauma and hurt that we encounter is so in-tense, that we are left wondering if there is any freedom left for a child to forge out a new identity. Yet, for all the stories of children whose cards were stacked high-ly against them from their early years, we also encounter stories of children who fought through the odds and made it safely into mature adulthood. Without sounding simplistic, it seems we do not yet well understand why two children with similar trau-matic experiences in childhood grow up dif ferently: one adopts the psychic position of a victim, another, similarly abused, be-comes a survivor.

Ironically, in the wake of the abuse scandal which has rocked St. Joseph’s Home since 2003, all at the Home found ourselves

in the same quandry. Do we adopt a position of defensive-ness, of closing in on ourselves, to protect ourselves? Or do we engage fully in the healing pro-cess, however painful? To quote from a recent conference on the subject held in Ottawa, Canada in October 2011: “What does the Catholic abuse crisis teach us about the challenge of build-ing cultures that protect children from the threat of child abuse within wider familial and institu-tional settings?”

With the gift of hindsight, we look back with deep sadness, and to the future with renewed hope. I firmly belief that all that has happened in the last years, has brought about a sharpening of the Home’s original mission and a deeper focus on the need to fulfil this mission diligently, trans-parently, and well. The last year has seen no let up in the amount of children seeking admission, or in the severity of problems these young kids face when not in care.

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In essence, moving from trauma to real transformation asks us to tap into dif ferent qualities:

Resilience: one of the unique qualities of chil-dren is resilience. For the Home, resilience is marked by the dogged belief that a lot of good can still come out of car-ing for neglected children in this Home. This breeds an optimism in the face of dif ficult odds. We have no illusion as to the magnitude of the task which we face daily with increasing-ly challenging behaviours and situations, yet firmly hold to the good we can do. Essentially, this also begs of us to believe in the potential of people: be they chil-dren, staf f, and volunteers who help us in our tasks.

Openness: In this light, the chal-lenge remains to have hearts which are open to all, including all victims of abuse. It is an es-sential part of the mission of this Home. This holds true, particu-larly to the Old Boys who have lived years of their lives within the massive precints of this Home. On another level this at-titude asks of us to be fully en-gaged and transparent with all

the stakeholders in the country who have children’s interests at heart.

Faith: As a Catholic Home, we are asked to live each moment with faith, however dif ficult. The last months, in particular, have been atcontinuous invitation to all who are part of St. Joseph’s Home today, to believe in God’s steadfastness, fidelity and provi-dence. This publication showcases what has been going on at the Home. It is a small testament to the belief that even in adversity and shame, God has been gra-cious to us as we seek to hum-bly ensure that the most vulner-able in our society find in St. Joseph’s a place they call home.

Fr Frankie Cini msspDirector

We believe in the potential of people: be they children,

staff and volunteers, who help us in our task.

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The fi rst open day at St. Joseph’s Home in 2011 gave the general public the opportu-nity to enter and discover the world of a children’s home at close quarters. For all the public-ity it has generated, little is known about the Home beyond the entrance and façade. The Open Day during which members of the staf f took turns to take people around the premises, including the apartments where the chil-dren live, were an opportunity for many families from across Malta

to come and see what it is like from inside. Beyond the media perceptions, the Open Day gave visitors a fi rst hand experience of daily life in a children’s home.

Before the actual day, the children were asked to remove identify-ing objects and photos from their rooms. We feel that the need for people to know, and the need for the Home to be transparent, should in no way impinge on the privacy of the children, for whom this place is their home away from home. For many families

Open day

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who visited us with their own children, this was an eye opener as to how similar our apartments look to “normal” homes. The image of dreary large dormitories with rows upon rows of beds next to each other is banished.The day was punctuated by abseiling provided by the Vodofone activity team, who returned again in summer to provide the boys at the Home with the thrill of abseiling into the main courtyard of the Home. For younger children, Jugs Malta Ltd provided a play area.

Probably the highlight of days like this is the visit of old boys of

the Home. People in their sixties, seventies and eighties, who lived here, ran along the same cor-ridors, and learnt a trade. Some come with stories never told before. Others, grown men, shed tears as they remembered the people who shaped their lives, trained them with discipline and prepared them for life beyond misery and poverty. Other retell stories of hardship and suffer-ing, yet others remember the place and people with gratitude and nostalgia. For them, as for us, who opened our doors, this day served to bring together the many lives which make St. Joseph’s Home.

Beyond the media perceptions, the Open Day gave visitors a fi rst hand experience of daily life in a

children’s home.

“”

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The Independent Living Project, took off in 2011, as the brainchild of a group of young entrepreneurs who wanted to create something unique for children on the verge of leaving care. Apart from the actual changes to the physical space, the project is intended to cater for the particular needs of youths who are preparing for living on their own. Works started in March 2011, with the removal of the old structures in a whole wing of the Home. A particular feature of this project has been the outpouring of support in kind by contractors, suppliers and people who actually did some of the work

needed on a voluntary basis. From youths who came to clear tiles, to major local companies who offered time and resources, the project started to take shape and is now entering its fi nal phases, in time for inauguration in a few months time.

Creating a home away from home is never easy. The project has been aimed at minimising as much as possible the effects of institutionalisation in children’s homes, fostering a hands on ap-proach to living together as small families, and skills learning for youths, whilst being still mentored by the skilled staf f of the Home.

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Mr Winston Zahra Jr. (Island Hotels Group), Mrs Gemma Mifsud Bonnici (Chairperson Vodafone Foundation), and Mrs Lucy Weldon (HSBC Foundation), during the launch of the Educational Programme.

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When in the early 1920’s St. Joseph’s Home opened shops for trade, with carpenters, book binders, printers, shoe-makers, and other trades, it kicked of f a tradition which went beyond the mere provision of shelter for street kids.

Up to the early 1970’s, hundreds of children left St Joseph’s Home equipped with a trade for life. With the advent of compulsory edu-cation, and the change of the child population at the Home, the trade shops closed, to give way to a dif ferent focus on education outside the walls of the Home, and within the national institutions of learning. Throughout, vol-unteers and dedicated men and women from all walks of life have assisted children resident at the Home, not only with exercises brought back from school, but with the mentoring they needed to perform better, at school, and in life.

The truth is, that children in institutions struggle academi-cally. They have to deal with problems which often many adults have never even im-agined. Yet, they still are expected to perform well academically. Invariably, for very complex reasons,

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was actually part of their af-ter school hours! For children who have often had very little schooling before being in care, this was not an easy task. For some it meant we had to start

from basic literacy skills, for children who are al-ready 10 or 11 years old. Three years on, the pro-gramme has made an even bigger leap. Island Hotels Group, Vodafone Foundation, and HSBC

Foundation, courageously en-dorsed the “Higher Platform for Children in Care”.

The programme was designed and set up by Mr. Dominic Lewis, project manager sec-onded to the Home by HSBC, in coordination with Mr David Schembri, the Head of Care at the Home. The programme now envisages an educational co-ordinator, Mr. Miguel Debono Cianco, who oversees the overall needs of each child. His role is to help recruit tutors from the educational fi eld, and guarantee that each child at the Home has three hours of personal tuition per week. This meant that rather than relying

they fall behind, and fi nd it dif-fi cult to do well at school. Low achievement levels are unfor-tunately common in children’s homes, despite the best ef forts of many.

More than statistics, these are the lives of children, who might have lived in a children’s home for years on end, yet still fi nd it very hard to integrate in society when they leave.

At St. Joseph’s Home we real-ised that these unhappy statis-tics were something which we could not tolerate any longer. Over the last years, the Home started to adopt a more struc-tured approach to the educa-tion of the children resident at the Home. In 2009 Island Hotels Group started to annu-ally sponsor this budding pro-gramme . In its fi rst three years, the challenge was to help the children realise that education

Tis education forms the common mind,

Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.

Alexander Pope, Moral Essays .

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on short term placements, the Home opted to recruit profes-sionals from the educational fi eld in order to ensure conti-nuity and set programmes with a clear focus on each child’s educational needs. Recruiting teachers for the programme proved to be an opportunity to meet a lot of people who genu-inely care about children who need help in this fi eld. The programme is no panacea for diffi cult situtations. Some children resist the process after having lost so much in previous

years, but slowly we are mark-ing a paradigm shift: from sim-ply providing shelter, to assum-ing responsibility for the greater well being of each child in our care. Like the trades of St Jo-seph’s Home in the 1920’s, we want the Home to provide more than a place to live in safety. It is our hope, that beyond ac-tual improvements in results at school, the educational pro-gramme at St. Joseph’s Home of fers hope and possibilities to many children currently in distress.

Early days: The late Br Rosario Micallef mssp teaching a young man printing techniques in the 1950s.

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Il-Bebbuxu

Il-Bebbuxu Smart Kids Child Care Centre is one of seven centres currently run by the Foundation for Educational Ser-vices. It was offi cially opened on the 12th July 2011 by Minis-ter Dolores Cristina and to date the centre has already catered for more than 60 children. The main aim of the centre is to

From the shell of a large hall, a vibrant, colourful space for children took shape in ear-ly 2011. The works included also rehabilitating a small pitch which the boys of St. Joseph’s Home use in the evenings, and which serves as a bright play area for the children at il-Beb-buxu Smartkids during the day.

St. Joseph’s Home, built in various stages in the fi rst half of the 20th century, is a massive com-plex. At it peak in the 1950’s, it was home to nearly 200 children at any given time. With the decline of the child in care population from the 1970’s, large areas of the buildings became va-cant. Over the last years, a number of rooms have been rehabilitated, making way for semi-nar and meeting rooms, and other services. In this light, a landmark agreement between the Maltese Church and the Ministry of Education, Em-ployment and the Family in late 2010, paved the way for a large basement theatre to be converted into a Child Care Centre. Il-Bebbuxu, was born!

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is assured by following the Na-tional Standards of Child Day Care Facilities (2006). The service is of fered from Monday to Friday, between 730am till 4pm. The child care centre caters for children be-tween 3 months and 3 years. Parents interested in making use of this service are to fi ll in a Registration Form. This may be obtained by:• Asking for a copy to be sent by post, by phoning 21455600/7 or by sending an e-mail: childcarefes.meef@gov.mt• Collecting the form from the centre or calling the Centre Coordinator on 21443863/ 21443855.

of fer a personalised service of exceptional quality for all chil-dren, especially those at risk of social exclusion.The child care services are based on the educare principle. This means that the childcare centres of the Foundation sustain that every child is an individual and also very special. The child care centre programme focuses on the various areas of child de-velopment (social, emotional, physical, intellectual, commu-nication and creativity). The most important feature is that children learn through play. The aim of the service is to help children to reach their full potential. Quality service provi-sion in these child care centres

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Concert at the Chapel of the Home, St. Monica Choir

Peace on Earth

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Building meaningful relationshipsMany think it is very easy to just come into a Home, and strike a relationship with a child in care. In reality this needs preparation. Gone are the days when a person simply knocks on our door and they join the team! Normally individu-als and groups which intend to work closely with the children,

Volunteer activity is part of the fabric of most Homes like ours. It is the unsung yet very visible contribution to the welfare of children in care. St. Joseph’s Home has nurtured and developed a reputation as an open place for individuals, families, groups, and companies to come and be part of the journey.

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are inducted into the Home’s regulations and structures, so they blend in gradu-ally and slowly. The Home does not en-courage short term experiences in direct contact with the children, because the residents tend to feel abandoned each time volunteers come and then disap-pear from their lives. On the other hand we encourage continuing relationships with families who form beautiful friend-ships with the boys as they grow up. Simarly joint activities with organisations and NGO’s which also offer services in our society are always an opportunity for the boys to encounter something differ-ent. In particular, a recent joint activity with the Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Per-suni b’Di\abilita was a beautiful coming together which the children of the Home benefited a lot from.

Probably the main volunteer activity in direct contact with the residents of the Home is that held by ~AMYouths, an organisation of youth groups under the MSSP umbrella, which organises three whole weeks of voluntary activities at the height of summer. This groups starts to form around April of each year and is prepared in detail for the experience with the children: the Home manual is discussed, norms explored, and basic training for being with children provid-ed. It results in weeks of packed activi-ties for the boys at the Home, including educational activities, apart from a lot of fun activities both within the massive

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precints of the Home and in oth-er entertainment venues. The group of volunteers also helps in seeking sponsorships for the boys to have a really good time in summer.

Making a differenceFor others, the Home provides an annual or occasional place where to spend a day together doing something good for oth-ers. The sheer size of the build-ing means that there’s always something to be done; a win-dow to be cleaned, a room to be painted, or a corner of gar-den to be cleared! Such groups,

normally from major compa-nies, or even groups of friends have become a regular feature of the Home, especially during weekends. Some companies opt for small one day projects, like the recent painting of the main entrance by Radisson-Blu employees. Others put in a shift of work where it is most needed. Seasonal varieties include the orange picking season. Many opt to spend the day here, bring their children along and make an outing out of the experience. Often large groups, such as the BOV group include cooking lunch in the

MCAST

BOV

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main kitchen of the Home, so that the whole day ends with a shared meal! Apart from being great team builders for compa-nies, schools, and groups, such events open up the Home to visitors, giving them a glimpse of how children in care are taken care of today.

Support A third group of volounteers are individuals who offer their services in different parts of the Home. A pensioner comes to answer the phone every Tues-day. Another comes in on Mon-day. Yet another on Thursday,

and Wednesday and Friday. A person opens up the church every morning. Another visits every week to keep our data-bases up to date. A man visit from a village, bringing fresh eggs every week. A supplier phones to deliver a consign-ment of good quality foodstuffs. These people never make the news. Yet, they are the hidden treasures of St. Joseph’s Home. They are people who care for the children who live here, and for the mission of the Home to continue to provide care for children in need.

Radisson Blu

Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b’Di\abilita

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Jugs (Malta) Ltd.Vodafone

For Volunteering opportunities contact us on 2123 1252, 21245 046, or email: admin@stjosephhome.mssp.org, or facebook: St. Joseph’s Home.26

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Coming to meet the children of St. Joseph’s Home more closely was a huge eye open-er for me. I was assigned for a short summer experience at the Home, spanning the sum-mer months. The fact that I actually lived in the building meant that I could visit the boys at various times during the day: from the early mornings when they woke up, bleary eyed, to face the adventures of the day, to the tender moments when they say their prayers before they sleep.

Being with children is not easy. I found the staff to be very help-ful in moments when I had to face awkward situations with children: moments when they are sad, and angry, others when they are lost and disturbed. The staff and Fr. Frankie helped me also to frame the experience in a wider context: more than a summer camp, for me this was a journey of discovery. Yet, be-yond the presenting problems of the children, they remain es-

sentially children who want to play, have fun and make the best of their childhood. Admit-tedly, some of the older boys, nearly my own age, present particular challenges in facing the world beyond this Home, and it was heartening to see the many efforts being made to help them integrate back into society. One of the highlights of this experience for me was to get to know these youths on a personal level.

Joining the ĊAMYouths volun-teers in their summer experi-ence also helped me immerse myself in activities for the boys. I realised, that for all their dep-rivations, the kids still managed to have a summer packed with activities and fun.

As a young member of the Mis-sionary Society of St. Paul, I am under no illusion as to how dif-fi cult the task of caring for these children is today. However this experience has been a very formative one for me person-ally and I have been struck by the commitment and dedica-tion of the people connected with the Home and the children who live in it.

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The dry summer months gave us the opportunity to clean the under-ground systems at the Home. St. Joseph’s Home has three under-ground systems in its precints: two war shelters and a massive water catchment system hewn out in two stages: a fi rst cavern built be-neath the “Palazz l-Aħmar” during the last decades of the Knights of St. John, and a massive extension cistern dug in 1924. One of the war shelters is mostly submerged with water used for irrigating the Home’s orange orchards. Thoroughly cleaned before the rains, the long summer of 2011 gave us the opportunity to go down and admire this subterranean maze under St. Joseph’s Home.

Digging Deep

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