Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, show him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime. This metaphor rings truest for the Cottonera, where an NGO set up by businessman Maurice Mizzi teaches schoolchildren how to make a figurative fishing rod, Sarah Carabott learns.

“Imagine that all the children are caterpillars and they all have the potential to turn into butterflies.

“Eventually they will all turn into butterflies and find their own flowers to pollinate and feed on. We just guide them on how to find the best flower while they are still caterpillars,” life coach Krisztina Rusak told this newspaper.

Ms Rusak is one of the tutors, funded by the Spiro Mizzi Foundation, who use Lego bricks to unlock students’ potential by challenging them to plan ahead before building a structure and to negotiate and team up with their peers for a better outcome.

This Lego play project at the Cospicua primary school is financed by the foundation as part of its ongoing mission to help the young Cottonera generation reach goals that their older relatives did not.

The foundation, which will turn 10 next year, was set up by Chev. Maurice Mizzi in a bid to help curb the poverty and illiteracy resulting from a lack of opportunity.

“It’s not a good sign that out of 13,000 university students, there are only some 150 from the Cottonera… One of the main aims of the foundation is to increase the number of students at university or help as many of them as possible to land top jobs in the commercial sector,” he said, noting that a lot of the Cottonera children he had met were bright and lively.

Maurice Mizzi (right) at the Cospicua primary school, surrounded by students during a Lego coaching session. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Mr Mizzi said he felt the area needed more help than other districts, but his choice to focus on Cottonera was also somewhat sentimental, since his father, Spiro Mizzi, was born in Vittoriosa. His mother, Genoveffa, was from Senglea, and his eldest brother, John, from Cospicua.

In the first years of the 20th century, Cottonera was very active, as several British naval ships were berthed in the Grand Harbour, creating trade for those living in and around the Three Cities.

“My grandfather, Gian Marie Mizzi, was a ship chandler, and he used to supply ships with mess men, food and drink before embarking on a month-long voyage inthe Mediterranean.

“It’s sad to see that the area has lost its importance, and I believe that more attention should be given to this region by the authorities so it can rise again.”

The Spiro Mizzi Foundation, which includes representatives from each of the three cities and also supports the area’s football nurseries, is led by Chev. Mizzi, with Father Hilary Tagliaferro and John Grech.

Fr Hilary Tagliaferro. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Fr Hilary said that following the war, several low-income families moved to the Three Cities because of low rent. Unfortunately, social issues were still a big reality there, and illiteracy was felt acutely within the region.

He acknowledged a recent drive to regenerate the area, but said there was still more to be done.

The foundation is helping out by employing after-school teachers and buying computers, books, smart boards and other educational items for different community organisations in the Three Cities.

Among others, its funds have covered some infrastructural work at the Senglea school, as even the environment had an impact on children’s well-being and morale, Fr Hilary said.

The Southern Comfort project, launched by the Cospicua parish church to help children with their homework and teach them English and IT, is another project the foundation supports financially.

The funds are mainly raised through a capital sum Chev. Mizzi invested in stocks and shares, with the specific intent that dividends and interest go to the foundation.

Unfortunately, raising funds is often a “one-man show”, since most people donate generously to the main local foundations, Chev. Mizzi said, noting, however, that the foundation recently received some funds from the President’s Foundation.

The foundation also relies on the sales of a book by Chev. Mizzi called The Pleasures of Gardening in the Maltese Islands, music CDs and other donations.

Donations to the Spiro Mizzi Foundation can be made to the NGO’s HSBC account 43015130001, sort code 44439 and IBAN MT92MEB44439000000043015130001.

Find more information on the Facebook page The Spiro Mizzi Foundation.