FMLA Newsletter Issue 9 May 2011
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FMLA Newsletter Issue 9 May 2011 Angelo Vella a Maltese-Canadian centenarian tells of his journey to Canada 91 years ago with his brother, sister, and mother. See page 4. From the Editor’s Desk: Celebrating Our Maltese Seniors and Our Heritage about collections they have and how the When FMLA Secretary material you might provide would be Albert Vella told me he important to the community? was making arrangements to visit with Maltese- On a personal level: Canadian, Angelo Vella, Do you encourage senior family members to who had reached his 100th talk about and share their memories and birthday in February, I was heritage? so pleased. (Albert's conversation with Angelo Do you encourage younger family members and an oral history taken at the Museum in to participate in senior family member Halifax, Nova Scotia from his 89th birthday discussions about their memories of Malta? begin on page 4.) Maltese Link readers What are you doing to encourage the would be able to get a glimpse, albeit small, preservation of your family history? Are you of what it was like for a boy of nine to leave keeping scrapbooks, or tape recording your Malta for Canada in 1920. And, as Albert relatives describing their experiences? tells, after all these years Angelo was able to describe the Naxxar he left and to speak in In many elementary and middle schools in the Naxxar dialect. the United States and Canada, emigration is a curriculum topic and one where students Sadly, much of our heritage leaves us are required to learn more about their own without a flicker of interest in the family's emigration history. This can include community. It talking with living doesn't have to be family elders, or that way as many someone in the in the Diaspora are community who showing. It is later shares their cultural than we think. identity. Think about it: Often, students must Does your local make a presentation Maltese about the culture, organization have food, music, and a program that history. There will be helps create oral maps, coins, histories of senior photographs of men members? Are there collections of old and women in national dress, samples of photographs, home movies, of recordings of food, and perhaps a picture book with the what life was like in the early days of being written language. In some schools, children in their new country? Are these collections are encouraged to bring a relative who available for others in the community or explains his or her emigration experience. researchers to view? Other times, the students “man” a booth with artifacts and information they have Does your Maltese organization sponsor gathered about their “family country” and senior events to encourage these individuals discuss it with school visitors (usually to share their memories and insights about parents!) who visit what often is referred to how things were earlier in their lifetimes? as a “Living Museum.” Are these events recorded for future Some schools require their students to tape generations? an oral history with a family elder, as did Have you spoken with local historical one of my cousins who interviewed my late societies, university and public libraries grandmother, Tona. That tape remains in MAY 2011 Page 2 our family. small pieces of Gozo glass, Maltese Cross I have been the family “go-to” person for all jewelry, bobbin lace bookmarks, even things Maltese in my family, not that I am ċombini and a trajbu, Maltese language the eldest, but because I usually have the children's picture books or whatever the “stuff” required for these projects, or can person asked, usually at the last minute, find them on short notice. My reputation has has available. My favorite request is for a grown… I am asked to do this for Maltese plate or so of pastizzi, which, yes, I have friends' children and families that may have provided frozen for some local children. The only one Maltese family member, a nanna or most unusual request was from one young nannu. What I find encouraging with families boy who asked if I could bring a plate of with only one Maltese family member is that ross fil-forn for him because “my mother the Maltese heritage is chosen to be does not know how to make it, and my explored by the student required to do the nanna is in Gozo. We are going to see her in project. the summer.” Many children with Maltese backgrounds who are required to do these projects Until next month, Saћћa u sliem dejjem! “dazzle” their friends and teachers with Claudia Caruana ■ From The President: To Malta, To Malta a major impact on life in Valletta as we It is that time of the year knew it. when many Maltese living overseas feel they must go One will not fail to notice the considerable to Malta to visit family, effort spent in transforming the renew their connections infrastructure in Malta. From July onwards, with the old country, meet expect to travel in luxurious buses no longer old friends, and make at the whim of their much-maligned owner- some new ones, and in drivers, but managed by a modern general, satisfy the ever- company. Hopefully, this will be a quantum present urge to prove to themselves that jump from the previous service provided. they are still at heart very much Maltese. Those travelling to Gozo will no doubt be Malta is changing at a tremendous rate, impressed with the terminal facilities at taking full advantage of its new status as a member of the powerful European Union. One can see the effect of this not only through the injection of vast amounts of EU money, but also in the attitude of the population itself, which has become Europeanised. One of the first things Maltese returning home and visitors, alike, will see is the demolition work on the Valletta gate, Il-Bieb tal-Belt. In months to come, they also will see other new buildings going up, including the planned new opera house and the Houses of Parliament. This will certainly have MAY 2011 Page 3 Mgarr, which compare easily with the best budgets will not be coming thanks to available in Europe. skyrocketing travel costs. We do not have statistics as to the It, therefore, is crucial for efforts to be contribution that Maltese living abroad directed to encourage younger Maltese in actually make to the Maltese economy. the community - those in the second and You can not compare the total number of subsequent generations - to become Maltese tourists with the total number of interested in Maltese culture to ensure they tourists for the simple reason that while the also would want to visit the old country of average tourist stays in Malta for a few their family and benefit by maintaining such days, most often a week; many Maltese a cultural contact. tourists would invariably stay several weeks, We commend the efforts of community- thus making an important contribution to minded Maltese living abroad who are trying the Maltese economy. to establish programs that encourage young Sadly, many ageing Maltese-born people people to find their roots in Malta and living overseas, are no longer making the experience the culture of their forebearers. voyage because they are not capable of Maurice Cauchi ■ making the trip, and others on limited Centenarian Reminisces About The Naxxar He Left 91 Years Ago Editor’s note: Angelo Vella left Malta 91 years ago and arrived on Pier 21 (at the time Pier 2) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which he revisited in 1999 and wrote about it (see page 5.) That article triggered our interest so Albert Vella paid Angelo a visit a few weeks after Angelo’s 100th birthday to interview him for Lehen Malti, the Maltese weekly TV program in Canada. What struck me most were Angelo’s hospitality and his very vivid memories of the Malta he left 91 years ago as boy of 9, and the trip that brought him and his family about the good country that Canada is. He to their new home, Canada. made special reference to his daily commitment as an altar server at the 6 a.m. Without any prompting, he related in detail Mass, his days at St. Michael’s College the trip with his mother, brother and sister School, and his happy days working even at on the mv Caronia. As you will see in his the time of the Great Depression. Angelo detailed write-up penned in 1990, the trip also talked about the time he would go with was not an easy one but Angelo came out his father to help with the building of the strong from this (quasi) harrowing Maltese church, of St. Paul the Apostle. After experience. high school he started as an apprentice When I started the interview in Maltese and machinist and then became a tool and die asked him to say a few words in Maltese, he maker - a trade which he practiced for more made the comment that he had left Malta a than 40 years. long time ago so he responded in English – About 30 minutes into the conversation, I vivid, enthusiastic, and refreshingly happy again posed a question in Maltese; Angelo MAY 2011 Page 4 perked up, the voice volume increased considerably, and his response was now in ‘naxxori’ Maltese (Maltese dialect from Naxxar). Angelo reminisced about the street his family lived on, the barber, and the Naxxar Parish Church where he attended mass. This is a 100-year old relating, in very vivid terms, his experiences in Naxxar, more than 91 years ago.