Mother spends nine hours in café to keep baby cool during outage

The mother of a two-month-old baby boy spent about nine hours in a Mellieħa café on Wednesday to keep her son cool during a power cut.

Carolina Vergognini, mother of two-month-old Brando, spoke to Times of Malta from Tutto Buono, a café and bar in Mellieħa, where she and her baby had taken refuge since about 6.30 am.

As Brando began crying in the background, Vergognini said: “He just wants to sleep in peace and comfort, but I can’t do that because no one is doing anything. I call the emergency number, nothing. I call Enemalta, nothing. What do I do?”

While comforting him, she explained that her power problems had begun shortly after she returned from taking her baby for a walk on Tuesday evening.

The pair arrived home at about 10 pm, with Vergognini managing to feed, wash and dress her son before the electricity went out.

By 4 pm on Wednesday, power had still not returned to her home.

“He was crying, screaming and his face was going red. I needed to do something,” she said.

Vergognini decided to leave the house as early as possible on Wednesday morning to find somewhere cooler for her child.

She said she was also becoming increasingly stressed because it was almost time to feed him and she had nowhere to warm his milk.

Tutto Buono allowed Vergognini and her baby to remain at the café throughout the day, something she said she was very grateful for.

“I checked my place 5 times today in hopes that the power would come back. But nothing happened; that’s when I contacted the mayor.”

She continued: “ If it was just me it would be annoying and I would get over it, but with my baby it’s another matter entirely.”

Mellieħa mayor Gabriel Micallef then appealed publicly for temporary accommodation for Vergognini and her baby until electricity was restored.

He said: “If any resident, hotel, guesthouse, business, parish, or organisation is able to offer a room or safe space for this young family for a few hours they should get in contact."

Less than an hour later, Paradise Bay Resort offered the family a place to stay.

By Wednesday afternoon, she and her baby were in the hotel. Vergognini thanked the mayor and the hotel profusely. 

The manager of the Paradise bay hotel, baby Brando, Carolina Vergognini and her mother. Photo: Carolina Vergognini

And noted that while she felt very fortunate, there are other vulnerable residents, including newborn babies and older people, who should be offered somewhere safe and cool to stay by the government until power is restored. 

Another father of a nine-week-old baby said the Government should have “declared a National Emergency.”

Kyle Sciberras said the power cuts had affected him as a father, taxpayer, employer and citizen.

“As a father of a newborn, I have to watch my child struggle through the heat. As a taxpayer and citizen, I pay my taxes expecting the most basic public service: a reliable electricity supply.”

Sciberras said electricity went out at his home in Pietà at about 7.30 pm on Tuesday.

“It was too hot to stay inside so we decided to go for a walk hoping that by the time we would come back it would return.”

He continued: “It is too hot to be at home as an adult, let alone if you have a newborn.”

Power had returned by the time the family arrived home several hours later, but Sciberras said he remained worried that another outage could happen during the night.

“Babies can’t sleep. The elderly are left vulnerable. Families are exhausted. Employees are expected to show up to work after sleepless nights spent in unbearable heat.”

Sciberras said he was also concerned about how the outages were affecting his staff and their daily lives.

“As an employer with 20 employees, what am I supposed to do? Pay for hotel rooms for all of them for the rest of the summer so they can get a proper night’s sleep and be fit to work the next day?” he wrote on social media.

He called on the Government to take responsibility, act urgently and address weaknesses in the electricity infrastructure.

Malta and Gozo entered the seventh day of the heatwave on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching 42°C at about midday.

The temperature reached 42.7°C on Tuesday and 42.3°C on Monday.

Malta recorded three consecutive days with temperatures of 42°C or higher, setting a new record.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Energy and Environment Ministry said customers who experienced power cuts lasting six hours or more during the heatwave would be compensated for their losses.