Viewed by over 14,000 people on social media, The New Victorians’s Online Concert is yet another success organized by the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, in collaboration with KSU. The concert entitled “Safe Space for All”, was broadcasted live on Facebook on Friday 4th December 2020. The concert lasted for around 1 hour, where students and alumni of the Faculty shared their experiences and opinions of resilience, inclusion and equality.
Mr Matthew Paris, an alumni of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, explained his experience with mental health struggles, emphasising the importance of support systems that enable us to persist against all odds.
Ms Maal Boukadi, a current Master student and nurse by profession, who also has a Tunesian ethnic background, spoke of her current experience as a frontliner in the COVID-19 pandemic. She also expressed her thoughts on inclusion in a society where hate speech fueled by xenophobia and racism on social media seems to be the order of the day.
Ms Solange Bonello, also an alumni of the Faculty and a prospective PhD candidate, reflected on the difference between having equal rights and an equal status. Ms Bonello, who has a visual impairment, spoke of how when asked to speak publicly, persons with a disability are requested to speak about the rights of persons with disabilities, when in fact there is so much more that they can contribute towards.
The event was hosted by Prof. Andrew Azzopardi, Dean for the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, and Ms Julia Cini, General Secretary for KSU. Ms Cini also shared the number of challenges that students are facing due to the current pandemic, which go beyond struggles related to their academic lives.In his concluding remarks, referring to lyrics from the song, Still Got Fight, an original of The New Victorians, Prof. Azzopardi encouraged listeners to continue speaking up, as to ensure that we still have the fight in us, and that together we work towards diminishing this Great Divide.
This Concert was sponsored by Kindred, and over 40 stakeholders supported the Faculty for Social Wellbeing by disseminating this initiative on their social media platforms.
