Accident: an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, loss or casualty, this is the way the English dictionary describes the word “accident”. However, when we ask ourselves what the word really means, we generally find ourselves thinking of an instance that occurred to our neighbours, relatives or friends, but very seldom to ourselves. This is precisely what motivated Matilde Balzan and her husband Lt. Colonel Peter Cordina to initiate a television production aimed at educating, as well as raising awareness with regards to emergency situations.

When I go to interview them I am greeted by Peter Cordina and Matilde who waste absolutely no time in putting me straight into the picture: “We met around eight years ago; the civil protection department had just started, and I got thoroughly involved straight away. Before that, I had no idea how the department functioned and was under the general impression that their job involved driving fire engines, extinguishing flames and that’s it!” comments Ms Balzan with a smile directed at her husband, who has been the director of the Civil Protection Department in Malta since 2000.

So what happens when you combine a TV personality with an emblem of civil protection, I muse? Lt Colonel Cordina replies: “Whenever we attend conferences, ‘information to the public’ is always high on the agenda. It is also part of the law; the civil protection law makes it incumbent on me as director to provide the community with education and awareness regarding public safety. As part of this campaign, Matilde came up with the idea of producing a televised programme.”

“Nowadays I am officially part of the civil protection department,” adds Ms Balzan, “our programme, X’Gara is not only aimed at informing the public but also endeavours to make the civil protection department known to society. As mentioned previously, sadly the stereotype of associating this department with fire engines is extremely widespread, even though eight years have gone by. In actual fact, the department is divided into various sections; for example the Marine Unit which provides assistance in case of fire on sea craft as well as oil pollution at sea; the Humanitarian Aid section which has been established in order to offer assistance in the event of natural disasters; the Hazmat Unit; the Dog Section as well as the Volunteer Division which comprises a number of volunteers like myself, from all walks of life who have joined the civil protection department. We undergo weekly training in order to carry out jobs which are usually executed by regular employees in the case of an emergency.”

Although this is not only what X’Gara is about, Ms Balzan emphasises: “Having been in the media for the past 29 years I have always striven to educate and inform my viewers, making them more aware of possible risks which they might encounter at home and workplaces as well as traffic accidents. Probably the fact that I was a teacher in the past has instilled in me the vocation to teach, both in and outside the classroom. Although we had a couple of television slots in the past, my dream truly materialised in October 2006. Initially we were allotted 13 programmes, which ran until December on TVM. However, since we had very good feedback, this year we have been assigned 26 spaces which means that X’Gara will run till the end of March.”

So how exactly does this programme work and what does it offer? Matilde is only too glad to explain: “Well, I conduct the programme and introduce the links, whereas Peter runs the entire backstage production, coordinates ‘stunts’ with the civil protection department and ensures the smooth running of the show. With the help of past victims, we research several local cases regarding accidents, which have occurred over the last couple of years. We produce re-enactments in order to explain the situation more clearly, and finally, with the help of a board of experts, discuss issues such as ‘what went wrong’, ‘how the accident could have been avoided’ and also ‘what could have been done’ in that particular situation. In this way we are urging our viewers to learn from other people’s mistakes as well as helping them realise that accidents aren’t something far-fetched; they can happen to anyone, you have to be prepared! Thankfully this awareness is increasing in Malta; schools for example have to carry out regular fire drills as instructed by the law. Teaching children is very important because they generally take in what they learn home. In fact when the civil protection department carried out lectures across local primary and secondary schools, we were pleased to find out that every student knew the number they should dial in case of emergency, which is 112, whereas when university students and older people were interviewed the response wasn’t so positive. This is what we strive to achieve, in fact I believe a major part of my job satisfaction includes meeting people who let me know that they have actually learnt something new from our programme. I believe this is extremely important; our objective is to build a culture of safety awareness.”

Ms Balzan goes on to relate how the initial idea of X’Gara came to life: “We met a man from Siggiewi a couple of years ago who is a mouth-painter nowadays. He told us about an accident he had when he was 18 years old which left him completely paralysed, thus entirely dependant on others. However, notwithstanding his tragic situation he developed his talents and is now a successful artist. His story was extremely striking, and this element is something which we try to highlight as much as possible throughout the programme. Positive situations do emerge out of tragedies and one must learn to be a fighter and never give up!”

Her passion towards the subject is extremely evident. What sort of difficulties has she encountered along the way? “Quite a few!” she quickly remarks with a smile, “At times, the victims themselves are reluctant to share their stories for a number of reasons, other problems we come across regularly concern road traffic accidents, many a times court cases are involved and it would be unethical of us to comment. Other cases which we don’t handle are those concerning fatalities, I have only done this once because I felt the nature of the story was so important that it couldn’t be ignored.” Lt Col. Cordina comments: “Well, finances are also a big problem, producing a high quality programme costs a considerable amount, there is a great deal of filming and editing involved and although ours is considered to be an extended Public Service Obligation Programme, our funds are never enough. Also a lot of research is involved beforehand which is not only time consuming but also requires a great deal of energy.”

X’Gara is screened every Sunday at 7.10pm on TVM