When Linda Coppini Foot’s family left Malta for Australia in the 1950s, she was left with more questions than answers about her Maltese roots.

She returned to Malta in April and did not know a single soul on the island. But one month later, after an appeal through Times of Malta, Coppini has for the first time met with five of her maternal cousins.

Linda and her daughter Charlotte arrived in Malta with very little information to go by: a few photos and her family’s immigration documents, as well as the faint memory of rarely told stories about Malta that she heard as a child.

After contacting Times of Malta to help trace her family, Coppini Foot had an influx of people contacting her with information, including Thomas Zerafa, her mother’s first cousin.

Just two days after his 89th birthday, Zerafa and Coppini Foot met up at his home, where they both recounted how lucky they felt to have found each other. As his wife, Edith, poured everyone a cup of tea, Zerafa explained that he was orphaned as a child because of World War II.

Thomas Zerafa at four years old. Photo: Zerafa Family

“I was an orphan, my father and mother were both dead, and I was in institutional care. I forgot all about my family,” said Zerafa.

But one memory remained for Zerafa: when he was in the institution at age 15, he met Coppini Foot’s grandfather, Romeggio.

“He came over to see me at a time when nobody else on this earth was interested in me,” said Zerafa.

During this encounter, Zerafa remembers Romeggio telling him with tears in his eyes that he would be moving to Australia and that they probably would never see each other again. And they never did.

I always knew I had a relation with Malta but having that connection with people makes it so much more special, and it helps me understand who I am- Linda Coppini Foot

"They forgot all about us, and we forget all about them,” said Zerafa.

He did not think about his cousins in Australia until he went on a trip there decades ago and tried to trace them but to no avail.

“It was a huge surprise to hear about Linda and our family there because we never even knew they existed,” said Zerafa. They spent the rest of their morning with Zerafa, who told her stories about growing up in Żabbar during the war, while Coppini Foot shared stories about his family in Australia.

While in Malta, Coppini Foot also met cousin Emily, who has the same name as Coppini Foot’s mother.

Linda Coppini Foot and her cousin Emily. Photo: Linda Coppini Foot

Emily, like Coppini Foot, is a child of migrants, but her family moved to Canada. Coincidentally, the two long-lost cousins met while they were both on holiday in Malta; before the article, they never even knew the other existed.

“It has given me a sense of belonging. I always knew I had a relation with Malta but having that connection with people makes it so much more special, and it helps me understand who I am,” said Coppini Foot.

While in Malta, Coppini Foot only met family members from her mother’s side, while her father’s side remains a mystery. All she knows about her paternal family is that her father, Charles Coppini, was born in 1936 and lived in Unit 1, Block 1, Hubbard Flats, in Cospicua. At 19, he decided to quit his job as a footman and join his siblings, Joe and Tony, in Australia.

Coppini Foot may still be contacted at e- lindafoot1@gmail.com.