How one woman’s compassion fights against all odds in the battle of integration in Malta.
A devoted volunteer, a mother of two and a compassionate person with a generous heart and an exceptionally contagious smile, Antoinette Zammit is one of the most inspiring people I have met.
For someone who has been trying to help immigrants – the most discriminated group in Malta – for the past decade and being confronted with the dire situation in detention camps on a regular basis, Antoinette is nothing like how I imagined. She is not bitter or cynical; and neither is she a solemn woman with a sceptical frown on her face blaming journalists for not reporting the story right. Instead she wears a heart-warming smile and speaks with such genuine eagerness that convinces anyone that she is truly setting her eyes on the cause of improving the situation for immigrants, at least on a personal level. She loves talking about the immigrants she has met and helped along with the Maltese people and their big hearts.
Since being interviewed by Maltese media, Antoinette Zammit, aka Mamafrica, has received more phone calls about donations. But she still believes there are so much more that she can help.
From around a decade ago, Malta has been hit with an influx of immigrants escaping armed conflicts in African countries such as Libya, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Sudan. Many of the conflict victims want to seek refugee in Europe and smuggle themselves via boats. Unfortunately, many of them were either caught or rescued by the Maltese government and an approximate 1,500 illegal immigrants are being sheltered in Malta every year. However, these immigrants are not well received in Malta as locals reject the immigrant populations and consider them a heavy burden that Malta cannot and should not bear. Racism occurs and different political parties in the country share the same view on immigration: they don’t want any.
Seeing the need of these immigrants, Antoinette started collecting clothes, cooking utensils and other necessities such as nappies from local Maltese families. She distributes them to immigrants in detention camps and open centres – temporary shelters for immigrants who have obtained or are awaiting their refugee status approval. In any other European country, this would receive nothing but praise. However in Malta, the topic of immigrants is so sensitive and the discussion about integration is almost non-existent that Antoinette’s charity and good-heartedness are not always appreciated by her fellow countrymen.
Born and raised in Malta, the 56-year-old has always set her eyes and heart on Africa. “Since I was young, I always wanted to go to Africa, ”she said.
She did when she was 23. As a trained nurse for children, Antoinette went to Libya to work for a Brazilian ambassador. One month later, she quitted her job as a nurse with dissatisfaction and wanted to return to Malta. Yet, little did she know that her employers had given away her passport and refused to retrieve it for her. Without her passport, Antoinette was suddenly an illegal immigrant in Libya and returning home seemed impossible. Twice she had to be sent to the airport, with a gun in her head, because the Libyan officials suspected that she was a spy. Frantically she turned to her friends in Libya, who came from Germany and Italy. They promised to help her go home by finding her passport and through diplomatic means, they did. It was this experience that changed Antoinette’s perspective.
“I understand how it is to be afraid,” she said, “So I really wish to help somebody [in Malta] like how I found help twenty years ago in Libya.”
So just like that, Antoinette has been committing herself as an aid worker for the Red Cross since then. It was not until ten years ago, when the Red Cross decided to opt for purely providing English classes instead of carrying out any human rights agenda targeting immigrants that Antoinette decided to quit her job at the renowned charity and started an initiative of her own. She saw that when refugees arrived by boat from Africa and were put in the detention centre, what they needed the most was clothes and basic utilities like pots and pans or nappies. So she decided to ask her friends and acquaintances whether they could donate unwanted clothes and anything they can spare to the refugees. Almost every day, she would drive up to the detention camps and distribute to the refugees personally, one by one.
“I don’t receive so much help from the government and I have been questioned a few times by officials. They asked me what my intention is; am I into human trafficking, or why would I be helping these immigrants?”
According to Antoinette, there are more than 200 NGOs in Malta, but less than 5 of them are dedicated to helping immigrants and refugees.
“I chose [to help] refugees because of the shortage; there is so much that can be done and we are not doing enough! This is what I want to do for a life time,” she said.
Since everyone knew Antoinette for a long time when she was with the Red Cross, she managed to get access to both open and close centres and visit regularly. In recent visits, Antoinette saw more than 700 immigrants being cramped into one detention camp; many of them from Tunisia and Libya as a result of the armed conflicts in those countries. However the deteriorating situation is not left unattended.
Everyweek Antoinette Zammit would drive around Malta to collect clothes and other necessities and deliver them to immigrants detention camps and open centres. According to Antoinette, the biggest problem is always to find storage for these supplies.
“Malta people are eager to help,” she said. “Most of the [donated] clothes are clean; the families wash and iron them before donating. They know they [the clothes] are going to the refugees.”
Through personal networks and words of mouth, Antoinette is being contacted regular to pick up clothes and other materials. Sometimes she would also turn to nuns in churches to ask for nappies for babies in these camps and centres.
“We are a small country, but we have big hearts,” Antoinette said proudly.
It’s not always milk and honey in her journey; Antoinette has to endure pressure and the occasional annoyance from friends and family.
“I have lost some friends because of this,” she recalled. “Sometimes they would make racist jokes and say really mean remarks, and it hurts. ”
Since Antoinette spent most of her time keeping this distribution mission alive, she is relying on her husband to sustain her financially.
“Sometimes it is a burden on me. It costs me around 2,000 Euro every year to run it,” she said. “Car maintenance, fuel and sometimes the immigrants don’t have enough food or when they are prescribed expensive antibiotics, they would also call me […] But I don’t need much; I am not vain. I am dedicated to [helping immigrants] and I don’t mind at all.”
Undeniably though, this adds strains on the relationship between Antoinette and her family.
“My sons do not particularly care. And sometimes my husband would remind me and say ‘ I’m married to you, not to refugees,’” she said.
During our interview, Antoinette Zammit received an SMS from an immigrant: “I. AM. AFRAID. I. NEED. HELP. PLEASE. HELP. ME. GOD,” it says
For Antoinette, this is not a hobby or a job that she can quit; the immigrants are part of her family.
“You love with them, you cry with them. I am invited to their weddings and many of them would call me years later telling me that they have become a teacher in England, or a DJ or find work in Russia […] it gives me a lot. I can look back and say that I have been a bridge for these people,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Some of them [the immigrants] tell me that they are desperate and that I am their last hope; their only family. And how can you not help?” Like in a family, immigrants have nicknamed Antoinette “MamAfrica”, and it makes Antoinette laugh when she hears the name.
When asked for how much longer she sees herself continuing her “hobby”, Antoinette let out a small sigh.
“I am getting old. It is becoming heavy. But as long as I can afford it financially and physically, I will keep doing it.”
A video featuring Antoinette can be view here
