A young mother is scared to take her two young children into the bathroom of her apartment because she is afraid a tile may fall on them.

The tiles are literally coming off the walls and the bathroom is leaking into the apartment beneath hers.

It’s a nerve-wracking situation for any mother to be in. But, as with other parts of her flat, renovated thanks to generous help, the bathroom too may soon get a makeover.

The Women for Women Foundation, which offers support to mothers who cannot make ends meet, has found someone willing to donate a bathroom complete with tiles.

New and expectant mothers are the ones who suffer the most because generating new income is next to impossible for some time at least and if they don’t have family support, it is extremely tough- Elaine Compagno – Women for Women Foundation

And now they are making a plea for a contractor to help install the bathroom and fix the plumbing, said the foundation’s Elaine Compagno.

“The case of this woman is one of our biggest cases so far,” Compagno said.

“She has come a long way over the past year, since she had her youngest child. She has no support. Things keep going wrong for her. But she keeps trying.

“When we first met her, she could not put her crawling toddler on the floor in her own home because the tiles were heavily pitted. We have helped her by affixing laminate flooring.

“We also helped her get a kitchen. She had installed the old one herself and the top cupboards had fallen, breaking all her crockery. We helped her get a washing machine too. At least now she does not need to hand- wash everything.”

One in five people in Malta at risk of poverty

The woman is one of a number of mothers being helped by the W4W Foundation.

According to figures released in September by the National Statistics Office, one in five people living in Malta are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

“New and expectant mothers are the ones who suffer the most because generating new income is next to impossible for some time at least and if they don’t have family support, it is extremely tough,” Compagno said.

In the case of this young mother, life has, indeed, been very tough.

“She has no support. She is not lazy. She used to work before she had the two children but now she can’t.”

The woman is talented at making traditional Maltese sweets and even completed a food-handling course.

“She has ambitions for her future. It’s an important element for us that the women we help are not content to be in the situation they’re in,” Compagno said.

Apart from having health problems, following complications from the births, the mother’s two-year-old has a disability and the younger child has a skin condition.

The child can only wear sensitive Pampers nappies and needs regular creams, which the foundation is helping her obtain.

Mother’s story is not a one-off case

Social benefits don’t cover the expenses, so the foundation is also helping with the groceries.

This mother’s story is not a one-off case. Last month, Times of Malta reported the story of a desperate mother who had given birth a few weeks earlier and described how she taped sanitary towels around her newborn baby girl because she could not afford nappies when her hospital supply ran out.

When Times of Malta visited the home of the new mother and her partner, it was cold and run down and the family did not even have water in the house.

The couple have no income, relying on the new father’s ability to secure work as a plasterer, which is hampered by an injury he had from a three-storey fall several years ago.

After the story was published, people donated money to the foundation to support the family with their needs. One person is also helping the family find alternative accommodation.

Anyone wishing to support cases that the foundation is working on can email elaine@womenforwomen.foundation or visit womenforwomen.foundation/donate.