About us

By Anna Spiteri, founder and chairperson of Mara Mediterra  

Founding an independent NGO on the wonderful theme of Woman, has been floating around in my imagination for a number of years. Mara Mediterra, Mara, i.e. woman in Maltese, and Medi 'middle', joined with terra 'Earth', meaning middle of the 'earth', recognizes Maltese women as being right in the centre of the culturally alive Mediterranean region.

The areas of focus selected for Mara Mediterra have been woven together through personal and other experiences.

Education

Having had the privilege to work personally with a group of women, from 1997 to 2001, on the Senglea primary school council, proved to be an awakening to the great potential of the women in Senglea. Piloting their intentions to improve the running of the school for their children, were Prof. Dr. Peter Mayo and Dr. Carmel Borg, who with their expert guidance and voluntary involvement enabled the success of these encounters with the school. This same group of women showed their gained empowerment when in 2003, they worked closely with the Senglea local council to pioneer the first summer literacy course of its kind in Malta .

Rightly so, the NGO is located in Senglea and premises are presently being refurbished to house the Mara Mediterra Senglea Women's Klub, besides the NGO's offices. It is envisaged that this Klub will literally open doors for greater liberty and invention for this special group of women.

Culture

Whilst attending Dr. David Trump's superb lectures, 'A New look at the Old Temples', last October 2004, the idea for the first cultural and creative activity for Mara Mediterra, as an NGO, came into being. Many of the foreign and Maltese women and men present at the lectures expressed a wish to do and know more about our temples. The FourthWays* programme, wholly inspired by Jeni Caruana, the artist, is fully organised and ready to be launched for March 2006.

With the encouragement of Ms. Antoinette Caruana, the CEO of Heritage Malta, this creative cultural celebration is now organised and bookings can be made directly from this website.

Celebrating the only 'feminine' phase of our archaeological and historical periods makes FourthWays a first. The roundness of the megalithic temple relates more to an innate and intuitive knowledge of the earth and the sky, than to waging war.

In contrast, Senglea, one of the three medieval cities, in the harbour, is hemmed in by massive square bastions, built by the Knights Hospitallers of Malta, to protect the island from sea marauders. With the dwindling down of harbour activities along the years, these bastions today serve to highlight the separateness of the three cities from the rest of the island.

Environment

Living in an urban environment with the highest density in the Maltese islands is no easy feat. As far back as the 1985's Women's Forum in Nairobi , in Kenya , (the end of the UN Decade for Women), I was made aware of the many urban projects influenced by grass roots women's organizations in many countries. Designing urban renewal projects should be done primarily from a woman's perspective, keeping in mind, safe areas for children and open green spaces for all the inhabitants. Bringing in several years' experience in environmental consultancy will, hopefully, enable me to contribute to generating projects in this area.

Gender

Setting up an independent NGO has been a lifetime ambition which is now fortunately happening with the assistance of so many people. Several times during my life in Malta I have observed abnormalities of behaviour towards women that were considered the norm by many, and with the women just accepting their fate. There are a few middle class women organizations, committing themselves to many worthwhile causes, and who carry out a highly commendable job. But there is a need for a grassroots meeting point that is not timid in addressing the real gender issues, and not commandeered by the political and the church authorities.

Bringing her vast experience on gender knowledge, Ms Renee Laivera, the ex - Director of Woman in Society, will ensure that a gender awareness educational programme, will enlighten the Mara Mediterra members.

Peace

This topic crept into Mara Mediterra during our discussions of an EU project proposal on Peace that we submitted as a partner, last year, with the Centro Studi Difesa Civile, in Rome. In this proposal we put forward the idea that in areas of conflict, w omen from the locality should be considered as crucial actors in the project. We also proposed that women should become part and parcel of the Peace and Conflict Impact Assessments, and specific, gender-sensitive, training packages for women peacemakers should be designed in the project.

These ideas do not seem to have as yet been promoted in areas of conflict in Europe or in the Middle East, but may prove worth exploring further should the right opportunity present itself.