Timeline
90s
90s
The YMCA Internet Café opens in 1996 on the premises of the Valletta Drop-in Centre. It is the first ever of its kind on the islands. It draws curious youth like moths to a flame; endless activities and services are on offer.
Courses and training take place for people of every ability, including neurodivergent individuals; from Danish to recycling, Japanese to first aid, and, of course, the expanding field of IT (Cutting-edge technology like… Windows ’95!)
There’s also a drama programme for kids, a film club for teens, lectures on Maltese sociology, and homework help for youth. Mushrooming workshops offer an endless array of opportunities for self-expression: musical instruments, singing, poetry, street theatre, origami, video cameras, painting, and comic strips, to name a few!
Oh and did we mention gigs? Empowering youth by giving them a podium to express themselves has always stood at the core of what we love to do.
Primary Students Visit the Internet Café (1996)
Special Rescue Group
Between 91-95, The YMCA Special Rescue Group operates as a special entity within YMCA Valletta. It offers services including First Aid at sporting and special events, Fire Fighting, Counselling and telephone helplines.
Social Work Programme
From newly inaugurated premises in Valletta, our organisation begins its first ever Social Work Programme. It organises counselling for people experiencing emotional challenges and difficulties accessing housing. Temporary shelter is provided, as well as suicide intervention. 7 cases are handled each day, 90% of all cases are deemed successful. Long term care is also provided. We are presented with the ‘Żgħażagħ fis-Socjeta’ Award (Youth in Society) in 1997.
Street Activism
In 1998, we organise a 1-hour silent march in solidarity with people suffering from drug-addiction. At a time when many choose to ignore this social affliction, we take the lead and make some noise.
Activism also takes the form of an Arts Festival in 1999 for controversial Black Liberation figure Mumia Abul-Jamal, who many believe was wrongly incarcerated and put on death row in the U.S in 1982.
Ten Sing (1997)
What is existence without song, dance, and sharing our vast and varied gifts with each other? The 90s at YMCA Valletta rolls from one celebration, one festival, one gathering of hearts and minds to the next!
YMCA Valletta Festival
Designed to showcase raw Maltese and international talent, this annual summertime Festival features cutting-edge and traditional music, exhibitions, street performance and art. On alternating years, expect to find a diversity as vast as Peruvian pan flute musicians alongside American pool tables, and hemp clothing.
The 3rd edition of the Festival brings a group of 10 Brazilian children from the favelas to Malta for a 3-week extravaganza. They perform across Malta and in the Latin American Beach Concert, that we also co-present.
All proceeds from the Festival help us fund our social programmes and residential facilities. Many of our early volunteers form part of our Youth Activities Programme, taking part in the Festival themselves.
Ten Sing
YMCA Valletta represents Malta in YMCA International’s annual Ten Sing Programme, a programme we participate in until 2022.
Venue Music Marathon
In 1998 we organise the nation’s very first music marathon. Over 25 local bands are slated to perform at the National Opera House and the Abyss Night Club in Buġibba. All donations go to the Y.
Art Week
In collaboration with the Labyrinth Art Gallery in Straight Street, YMCA Valletta holds Art Week where 50 blank canvases are made available for the public to paint on as they wish. More than 1,000 people attend, some holding a paintbrush for the first time in their lives. Artwork is then auctioned and all money collected is used to fund free alternative education programmes.
Creating with Junk
Creating With Junk encourages people to use recycled materials to create new masterpieces.
Infant Joy Art Festival
The Infant Joy Art Festival runs annually at the Internet Café. It gives youth a diverse platform to experiment. Proceeds from the festival are used to fund a project for children in Albania living with disabilities.
CB Marathon
Partnering with the Osanna Youth Hostel in 1999, YMCA Valletta fundraises to enlarge Osanna’s homeless hostel, and refurbish a new shelter designed to accommodate 35 men.
Y Do It
Begun as a quarterly review of the happenings at YMCA Valletta, the Y Do It magazine is launched in May 1997.
YMCA Valletta Festival (1999)
Due to a drastic increase in the need for emergency accommodation, towards the end of the decade, plans for a unisex, disability accessible shelter is envisioned in the heart of Valletta for up to 60 individuals. It will be situated at 182 St Paul’s Street and will soon help stem the flow of referrals for those unable to access or afford this most basic human right. Sheltering the homeless will become a cornerstone of the services we provide.
Cradled between Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Malta is an inevitable mix of many histories, cultures and traditions. Today YMCA Malta still has a strong track record of assisting those in our Mediterranean backyard, particularly fellow Italian YMCAs and other NGOs.
The 90s sees YMCA Valletta working with the Sisters of Mother Teresa to run a Summer School for children living in slums in Cagliari, Sardinia. Youth volunteers are charged with caring for around 100 children, six days a week for a month – a formidable task, but one that gets kids off the streets and enjoying beautiful Summer days.
