WATCH: Malta’s Homeless ‘Snow White’ Has a Heartbreaking Story
This video looks like something straight out of Snow White – a woman playing with a pigeon, who flaps its wings while sitting comfortably on her outstretched arm before eventually hopping onto her shoulder.
Yet the scene is St George’s Square in Valletta and the woman an Australian living on the streets, who says she has been forced into homelessness as a result of domestic violence.
The person who sent the video to Lovin Malta said that the woman often hangs around the popular Square and, although she isn’t begging as she is aware that it is against the law, she is accepting money from passers-by.
Her name is Anne Agius Gelicrisio and Lovin Malta has attempted to make contact with her. A look at her Facebook wall makes it clear that hers is not an easy life and sheds a light onto the dark side of Malta. She said she has been living in Malta since 2012 and is married to a Maltese man, but was eventually forced into homelessness as a result of domestic violence.
She said that she has been accepting acts of goodwill from local businesses like Cafe Cuba, to whom she offers a night watch service in return for bread, water and coffee. Yet her stay in Malta has not been pleasant so far and, although homeless, she has actually been the victim of robbery herself.
“There are plenty of thieves in this country, there’s no question,” she wrote. “I’ve had my bags stolen and jackets and blankets etc….who in their right mind would steal from a homeless person anyway? I wouldn’t even steal from a rich person, let alone someone living on the streets with no income, no family and reduced living standards. I always used to tell my husband ‘…what was not yours in the beginning, will not be yours in the end.
“That’s why living without the kids no longer worries me because I know that one day, they’ll come back – I refused to abort my son against his father’s wishes because I felt it was God who chose him…”
Anne Agius Gelicrisio’s dream is to get a degree in law or psychology and then establish a rehabilitation centre for women and children in Malta, but she has been denied entry into the University of Malta on more than one occasion.
Yet her Catholic conviction is helping her remain optimistic that she will, some day, fulfil her dream.
”There are two things I know, the first is that when God gives you a gift he wraps it up in a problem and the bigger the problem the bigger the gift will be. The second is that the devil attacks those who love God – we are all born but we are not all chosen and I believe I am chosen for this job.”
Do you have any information about homelessness in Malta? Please send any details to tim[email protected]
Read more: WATCH: Maltese Man Opens Up About Being Homeless
