Lived Experiences (Page 2)

judging prejudice

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“Being unique is the best thing you can do” “You should not judge others” I bet it’s not the first time you heard similar statements. But have you ever stopped and wondered about the connection between such statements? Well, let me tell you a story which, I believe, would help you understand what I mean when I say ‘connection’. A few weeks ago, before the new scholastic year commenced, my family and I decided to go on a ‘lovely’ shopping trip called “uniform hunting”, or better known this year as “going for uniforms but after arriving we find out there are only a few left”.Read More…

separation

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When one of the conditions to child visits is supervised access, as shown above, it’s quite obvious that something is not right and the court has decided this because it has determined that children need to be protected. Yet the father’s rights to visit the children still takes priority over how the children feel about meeting their father.  I used to take the children myself to visit their dad so as not to create more trauma to my children by sending them with strangers. I only got Appoġġ involved to take the children to the visits when their father started bringing his new partner alongRead More…

social assistance

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Living on social assistance is very hard for a lone mother especially when the other parent is not in the picture… Many single parents (mainly women) with young children find it very difficult to work, not because they do not want to but because they find it impossible to work without any family support. Free childcare, and Klabb 3–16 seem to be touted as the solution to all women’s problems. Whilst these services greatly help many parents especially two parent families, however for those lone parents with multiple children, or children with special needs free childcare, and other such services are all useless when yourRead More…

single mother

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I am writing this in support of all the women who are going through this situation with me. I had approached Francesca a few months ago regards this situation. It took me a long time to manage to have a definite file with all my expenses as a single mother, so the file I am presenting is 100% correct. I will start with how I ended up a single mother. Well, my ex is a crack head. He is a rich man, owns millions in properties and is a prominent business man. My ex had manipulated the police into calling me and scare me intoRead More…

identity malta family unification

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Agnes Mudembo is no ordinary woman. A mother of three currently following a Bachelors’ Degree in Nursing on Full Time basis at the University of Malta at 42 years old is already something admirable. As a nursing student myself, I’ve met Agnes online during lectures for the past couple of months and I can say that she is a respectful, caring and dedicated woman who is eagerly studying for a better and more satisfying career. But as an extremely empathic and sensitive woman, through her eyes I could easily feel a lot of internalised pain. So through wham we sat down and attempted to uncoverRead More…

growing apart

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Growing apart from your partner can sometimes become inevitable, as an anonymous reader explains whilst sharing her own personal experience with us at wham – “Maybe he just doesn’t turn you on anymore…” Let me start with some background information – I was not a virgin when I got married and neither was my husband.  In fact, by that time’s standards, getting married at almost 30 was considered a bit older since the average age of marriage was usually 24 to 25 years. At that time, I considered myself quite knowledgeable about sex – it was good between us.  We were pretty uninhibited and relaxed,Read More…

GBS Awareness Group B Streptococcus Disease

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“I felt mesmerised looking at my newborn baby…little did I know that very soon I was going to receive the shocking news of GBS that turned our world upside down…” I am a mother and trauma survivor; this is my story. On the 3rd December 2019 at 4:05 am sharp my husband and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl. We both felt overjoyed and at the same time surreal, as our little girl arrived 4 weeks prior to her due date. Our Christmas present came earlier that year- little did we know what was in store for our family.  As our baby rested during the dayRead More…

preimplantation genetic diagnosis

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I’m a 38-year-old Maltese woman living abroad, I was first diagnosed with unexplained infertility at 33 and at 37 I was diagnosed with endometriosis, that explained my infertility. From my long IVF journey, I’d like to shed light on why embryo testing is crucial – this is medically known as Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis PGD. Unfortunately, embryo testing is currently not available in Malta. Firstly, due to my stage 4 endometriosis that spread through my uterus and ovaries, I only produce a maximum of three eggs with each cycle, and this only when stimulated, and therefore a tested embryo with very few eggs is very importantRead More…

dear mum

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Dear Mum, You’ve been gone so long, you’ve left me with so many mixed feelings. I need to let it all out even though you can’t read this. Why didn’t you pick me up when I cried? Why did you push me away? You never hugged me or kissed me, I was only just a little girl. I needed you dear mum, yet you were so cold. You told me nice stories about Jesus but you also mentioned the devil so many times. I was so terrified each time I did something wrong because I knew you would beat me up and as if thatRead More…

unknown father unrecognised mother in police conduct

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Recently an anguished mother contacted Francesca Fenech Conti, administrator of the group Women for Women (Malta), about a shocking issue she encountered when picking up a police conduct for her son…a son she had to raise on her own because his father refused to take any responsibility for his upbringing, leading the mother to register her son as having an “unknown father”. Despite the shock and emotional pain endured due to the situation, this mother is now on a quest to see justice prevail and to bring about the necessary changes in this regard. This is her story… Living in a Patriarchal Society – ARead More…