The Order of Malta relief corps on the island of Gozo continued to support needy people and the Order of Malta Volunteers in Gozo did their utmost to carry out their tasks on the second largest island of the Maltese Archipelago.
The Gozo Volunteers also continued with their four-year-old project of providing a special transport service for the wheelchair-bound and the elderly. Requests for transport included persons needing help to go to a home for the elderly or a center for the disabled, others wishing to go on pilgrimages and outings and some requesting to be taken to hospital. The Order of Malta tried to provide transport for all of these and assist most of the requests including two wheelchair-bound tourists who visited Gozo last year. The Order of Malta Volunteers in Gozo are grateful to the Friends of the Sick and Elderly in Gozo, Mr Christopher Hyland from the American Association and the Salesians for giving financial assistance for the running of the service. The Order of Malta in Gozo is always grateful to Malteser Hamburg led by Dr Alex Becker for donating the accessible tail-lift minibus. On Good Friday, a first-aid post complete with Automated External Defibrillator (A.E.D.) was organized during the procession organized in Victoria, where the first-aiders with Maltese Cross armbands assisted various chain-bearers and pilgrims.
Collection of good-quality clothes and items for people in need in Gozo and abroad was one of of organisation’s main activities. Ghana was one of our missions last year and tons of clothes, bedding and educational material were shipped over to Accra. The Order of Malta Volunteers in Gozo organized the collection of material and transferred the supplies to a store. Ghanaian missions paid the shipping company. The Order of Malta and the Ghanaian’s residing in Gozo are the main coordinators of this noble cause. Other supplies of medicine, spectacles and first-aid items were also sent to Peru, Guatemala and Cuba.
In November 2013, after an appeal by a social worker based at the refugee camp in Malta, the Order of Malta Volunteers in Gozo collected some 80 blankets for asylum seekers in detention. It should be noted that there was a shortage of such items in the camps as many asylum seekers kept arriving.
In December, the Gozo-based organization of the Order distributed some 24 shopping hampers to needy families. These hampers were sent to Gozo by the Maltese Association of the Order.
Chris Galea
Director