Think You Had A Bad Year? Here Are 2018’s Worst Moments, As Told By Malta’s Biggest Personalities
For some, 2018 was a good year… for others, a was a bit of a mixed bag.
However, it is exactly in the face of unexpected challenges that one needs to stand up and tackle whatever is thrown at them, head on, to become a stronger and better person.
Some of Malta’s biggest personalities opened up about their worst moments from 2018, and reminded us all that there’s a whole lot we aren’t seeing behind the smiles and filtered Instagram shots.
1. Simon Schembri
“15th May, 2018 – The day of my accident.”
2. Adrian Delia
“This was a very difficult year for me and my family. I pray to God every day that he gives us the necessary strength to all grow stronger and bring us a brighter year ahead.”
3. Alex Alden
“Being ghosted.”
4. Jo Caruana
“Watching authorities two beautiful trees near where I live. Along with a few other activists I fought to save them, but failed. I will keep fighting. I am fed up of people treating trees like a commodity and then complaining about the horrendous air quality.”
5. Roberta Metsola
“Giving a speech in September where I read out the names of the female victims of domestic violence who were murdered in Malta this year. There have been too many women killed on our shores.”
Pictured above: just some of the women murdered in Malta in the last few years
6. David Casa
“As is customary in my line of work, having to deal with lies and attacks is almost a weekly routine. However the worst moment has to be when these attacks and baseless allegations roped in my family members and my staff back in October.”
7. Chris Cardona
“When politics gets dirty and personal.”
8. Grandayy
“Watching the 2018 YouTube Rewind.”
9. Sarah Zerafa
“YouTube didn’t let me watch one video in peace… all of those ads!! So annoying!”
10. Ben Camille
“A young adolescent spoke to me on Facebook telling me he wanted to end his life due to bullying issues. Without going into any details for obvious reasons, it was most definitely one of the hardest situations I have had to deal with to date. I thank the professionals who helped us get through it.”
11. Francis Zammit Dimech
“Being denied access to my own hotel in Strasbourg when the terrorist shooting incident broke out… And of course I realised that I was standing at a barrier less than a hundred metres away from where the scene of the attack.”
12. Cyrus Engerer
“Having to give up Ollie, a dog that Randolph and I adopted, after we found him roaming the streets of Rabat. Basically, after getting people from the Animal Welfare Department to trace his owners, we were told that Ollie was unchipped. The option at the time was either to adopt him or leave him on the streets – so we didn’t think twice, it was love at first sight – a few minutes later we were at home, playing with Ollie and adapting our house to the new addition in the family.
During the first days, we did our best to try and find the owners via facebook, but it was all in vain. After three and a half weeks, after we had become really fond of him and as he became an integral part of the family, a friend of ours told us that someone had just put up a post on facebook saying that their dog was lost in the streets of Rabat. The dog in the picture resembled our Ollie. I got in contact with the person who put the post up and it was clear that Ollie, whose original name was Milo, was actually theirs.
It was heart-breaking when I drove to the place where we had to meet. Seeing Ollie go run and play with his original owners, but then jump back into my car as I was leaving, was agonising.
This led us to start the Chip your Dog campaign to raise awareness on the importance to get dogs chipped. If you’re fond of your pet, you would want to find him/her, should they get lost.”
13. Gaia Cauchi
“Coming back home after a wonderful experience.”
14. Chris Fearne
“It was when a close family member had to undergo a challenging operation. Thankfully all went well.”
15. Ira Losco
“The lows are tough to deal with, but you get through them… because you have to.”
Did any of these moments affect you?
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