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roseanne women for women foundation

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Roseanne* is a mother with very young children, the youngest is just a few months old and already suffers from asthma. She is a survivor of domestic violence, and is trying extremely hard to budget her little income to make the food last and pay her rent and bills. The violence she has endured has left her in financial ruin, making her path back to stability a very difficult one. Her youngest child is sick and needs frequent visits to the health centre, effectively keeping Roseanne out of work since she is the only caregiver for her child. With so little money to go around,Read More…

losing a beloved pet

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I cannot believe I’m writing this article. Why do we have to lose those whom we love? The death I experienced recently was not a human death, but rather an animal death. The feelings I’m experiencing are too much for me to handle. It feels like I lost my best friend; like I lost someone who loved me unconditionally; who was there for me regardless of the time or day; who had the ability to smell my sadness from rooms away and come next to me to make me feel a tad better. Feels like I lost someone who was there for me for 18Read More…

coming out

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In: Blogs, Mariposa's Blog

I have been debating on whether or not I should write this article ever since I found out that an awareness day on Coming Out exists somewhere in the world. However, fear stopped me from doing so; fear of judgement, fear of harassment, fear of being discriminated against, and so on. I thought about putting this article in my name, yet I am still not ready for some reactions I may get – writing it anonymously dissociates me from being the writer, thus certain criticism can be taken less harshly. The downfall to this is that if it were to be in my name, thoseRead More…

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…

no means no

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In: Blogs, Mariposa's Blog

Your persistence is not flattering. There was a time in my life where i would say “I’m sorry” after such a statement, but I realise I shouldn’t be sorry for speaking out the truth. There was also a time where I would view statements like “let me drive you home” and “we should meet up, you know, to have a pizza on Tuesday”, as interest in a positive way. But repeating yourself and staying persistent cancels out the positive thoughts that I could have developed about you. I should not tell you “no” a thousand times for you to understand that I do not wantRead More…

back to school tips for mums

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As we near the end of Summer, our minds as mothers naturally shift to the thought of our children going back to school. Needless to say, this might bring about a wave of anxiety – “Do I need to buy more uniforms? What about school shoes and socks? And we’ll definitely need backpacks, pencil cases, bottles and lunchboxes…oh lunches! What lunches are best for fussy eaters like my little one? Oh I really hope the kids settle down easily at school this year. That reminds me…there is still transport and who knows what else that I still need to think about…“ While such inner conflictRead More…

breastfeeding

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In: Home and Family, More

Lately a discussion arose on the Facebook group Women for Women (Malta) with regards to breastfeeding, where a woman claimed that while she is currently dealing with a separation, she discovered that breastfeeding her baby in court is not allowed. Other women confirmed that they had experienced the same situation, including a mother who had been chosen as a witness. She was not only denied permission to take her two month old breastfed baby with her, but also told that refusing to attend would cost her a hefty fine. It is absurd that in 2021 we are still denying basic needs to women and theirRead 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…

Nursing Student Claire Galea

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In: Education, More

It’s ironic that just over three years ago, if you asked me what I wanted to do with my life I would have answered “I honestly don’t know”. And while this is an understandable answer coming from a teen, at 36 years old it wasn’t so much. Having married at 18 years old and then going on to raising 3 daughters in the following two decades meant that I got sidetracked. I always loved and valued education; always hoped that eventually I could find time to go back to studying, but it seemed like it was never the right time for me to do so.Read 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…