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atlas healthcare

Don’t just take it from us. Atlas leads in market share in this sector, and we work very hard to maintain this trust. We provide first-class benefits and great support services to assure our members that they have chosen the very best. Our suite of health and wellness benefits is fully customisable for corporate groups to fit the different needs of different talent pools. Individual plans have excellent extensions, including the newly enhanced preventive care cover. For attendees of the Women’s Health and Wellbeing Expo 2023, one-month free cover on individual health insurance is being offered for those who obtain a quote from the conferenceRead More…

sexual marital abuse

Everyone had warned me, but I did not listen. I chose not to listen. I ignored them all. Family, friends, people who genuinely cared… I swear, I didn’t do it on purpose. Yet, in the state of mind that I was in, I did just that. Why is it that by having a good forgiving heart I keep on enabling myself to be abused over and over and over again? Why is it that my trust has to keep on being broken? Why can’t I learn to put myself first, once and for all, and not fall for fake promises of change? Why do IRead More…

abortion

“I have to tell you. I almost had an abortion during this pregnancy”, were the words I confided to my Obstetrician during a routine ultrasound. What I didn’t expect to see, was the look of horror wash over her face, as though I had admitted to some heinous, unforgivable crime. Weeks after giving birth to my first child, I sat on my bathroom floor bawling my eyes out in grief. Grief over the life I felt I was losing, as I clutched yet another positive pregnancy test. I didn’t know how I could take care of another baby. My husband was as overwhelmed as IRead More…

abortion rights

I was 16. He was 24 and reassured me that he was never a risk to other women, so I should trust him – without a condom, notwithstanding I was mid-cycle. And so I did, letting him “spread my legs” (as some women like referring to) to show me how it’s done. It was over in a few seconds; he was on drugs or alcohol and surely was very disappointed at all the hype about sex but was worth something to write in my diary. After all I was no longer a virgin now. Fast forward two weeks, and now, single, my period was late.Read More…

care and custody

I have an ongoing court case situation that I have been in for 3 years. The court is taking too long to issue a decree for care and custody in this case. I am a single mother of a 7 year old son. The father, who is a foreigner, has left Malta after our relationship ended and he has not paid attention, showed any interest, or heard the child for the last 4 years. Obviously I have never deprived him from access to the child. Maintenance has never been passed from his end for these last 4 years. The little one had his First HolyRead More…

birth

Up till 70 or so years ago most births happened at home. This usually meant that the familiar village midwife would be approached some time in pregnancy and simply notified that she would be called during the time span of early or late in a particular month. No due date. Simply some time around…. ‘when the baby knocks, I’ll just open the door for him!’ When the baby did ‘knock’, there would usually be a couple of other experienced mothers in the house, obviously chosen by the mother herself. Husbands wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near. They know nothing about births. The trait in the maleRead More…

selective mutism

As a mother, to help my daughter who is fourteen and has selective mutism, I try to imagine how it feels to live a life in silence; how might it feel to go to a place where I do not know anyone and am not able to ask or answer, even though I do know how to speak and everyone tells me how clever and how bright I am; to hear the words, “don’t ask her, she can’t speak.” It is not true, but I just can’t prove them wrong. Our story started back in kindergarten when the teacher asked if she could visit us,Read More…

Paulina Dembska

It’s 6am, on one of those glorious mornings after a night of rain, and I am doing my daily walk, the day after Paulina Dembska ’s rape and murder. All of a sudden I am afraid, as I realise I’m walking alone. I am afraid for myself and for those who identify as women in our country. I am afraid for one of my daughters who had to run home at night, as a man was following her, after being touched and harassed on a bus while everyone there turned a blind eye. I am afraid, for another one of my teenage daughters, who myRead More…

life

People say that life is a wonderful journey, full of lessons, love and friendship. Childhood is supposed to be filled with rainbows, green yards, play, and friends screaming and running after each other. The teenage years are said to be friendship based; you make friends, go out, maybe find the one, do the most important exams you’ll ever face in your life – and pass them. Then comes adulthood, when life seems to start settling down, you find a job, maybe get into a stable relationship, marriage, children, whatever may come – you’re happy. I feel like a liar saying all this. This is notRead More…

it's okay not to be ok

Being diagnosed with social anxiety was one of the weirdest and unexpected things I have ever experienced. This is why… I have always been seen as a social butterfly. One who smiles at strangers. One who wins silly dance competitions during parties. One who communicates and compliments everyone who crosses her path. Meanwhile, another side of me always feared judgement. So despite the positive social approach I exhibited at times, I was still one who sat at the back of the class so other students would not mock her behind her back. One who would prefer to be in bed at 10pm watching a seriesRead More…