Qala. I hail from Victoria. My wife is from Xewkija. But together with our two children we live in Qala, a small village with a population of 22,000. It is the farthest village from Victoria, but the closest to the rest of the Maltese archipelago. In both Arabic and Maltese, it means a sheltered haven or port. Its name is taken from Ħondoq ir-Rummien which ecologists protect with such dedicated passion. The hard rocks of the breakwater outside Grand Harbour were cut from a Ħondoq quarry, long since abandoned.
Toni tal-Baħri was born there. He is perhaps Qala's most famous citizen. He grew up to be Anton Buttigieg - lawyer, politician, journalist, poet, Deputy Leader of the Malta Labour Party, Deputy Prime Minister, and President of the Republic. His trilogistic autobiography, Mill-Album ta' Ħajti, starts off with the village of his childhood. I like to pretend that I am his namesake.
Another towering personality from Qala is the late Anġlu Camilleri, known by all and sundry as Il-Bedeq, a Member of Parliament who refused to be bribed to vote against Mintoff's government. Architect Clint Camilleri, Qala's mayor, young, energetic, charismatic and enterprising, who was nearly elected a European Member of Parliament, is his nephew.
Under Clint's watchful, professional eyes, the main square of Qala has been embellished, aided with €20,000 from the Ministry for Gozo, and European Union Funds. The Qala Local Council, the Ministry for Gozo, and the Gozo Curia all co-operated to visibly transform this public space which is a very popular venue for visitors and the place for popular pubs and restaurants. This is one way of enhancing our urban and socio-economic infrastructure to attract foreign and internal tourism alike.
A key event on the Qala calendar is the yearly International Folk Festival. Its participants are not only from Qala only, but also from other Gozitan villages as well as from abroad, among them Sicily and Poland. This serves as a window on the past of multiple cultures; a comparative time-tunnel enabling us to compare and contrast the roots of our local traditions, thus highlighting what is the core European thread which binds us seamlessly together.
Qala is the starting point of a new multi-kilometre pipeline which is being laid up to Sannat by the Water Service Corporation at a cost of over €4 million. The project consists of the laying of a 400mm pressure main from Ħondoq to the Ta' Ċenċ reservoir and the asphalting of the streets through which the trenching works to house the pipeline are being made. The pipeline will carry water pumped from the reverse osmosis plant at Ċirkewwa to the Ta' Ċenċ reservoir which will then be distributed to the whole of Gozo.
Recently, together with Clint, I had the honour to open the Qala Folk Art Museum which has replaced the disused police station. It will not be limited to folklore exhibits; these will be shown side by side with contemporary art. Past Gozitan traditions will also show the way forward into the future. The Gozo Ministry partially financed this project by donating €60,000 and the Qala Council acquired another €32,000 from the European Union. On this occasion, the mayor launched a heritage trail, financed by European Union funds, to the tune of €39,000.
Qala will be the final page of the album of my life, and is the first page of that of my children. This is in sync with Qala's destiny as a sheltered port where journeys both begin and end. Qala is the interlocutor par excellance between Malta and Gozo; between the past, starting from its 180 metre-long cart ruts, and the future. Qala's appeal lies in the equilibrium it has managed to achieve between ancient village slumber and contemporary rat-race by preserving the past while living the present. I am confident that the Qala mayor will preserve this delicate equilibrium.
Dr Refalo is Minister for Gozo