A cultural activity taking place in Kalkara is inviting people to learn about the socio-cultural identity, history and collective memory of the seaside locality while trying their hands at activities involving the arts and sciences.

Għaddi – An Experiential Walk Through Kalkara takes the shape of a do-it-yourself walk and invites participants to enter a ‘one-to-one’ relationship with the village of Kalkara.

Through a voice-over narration, which combines historical data with fantasy, and a visual guidebook, they are ushered through different streets in the village core. Some of these streets and places may be not very popular but they are significant to the personal and collective memory of the local inhabitants.

The two-hour walk departs from and ends at Esplora Science Centre and includes five stops of around 15 minutes each, during which participants have the opportunity to meet some of Kalkara’s community members. The latter narrate their stories and experience of the village while sharing their skills and crafts with the participants.

The project, which has been evolving since December 2018, marks a collaboration between community artist Kristina Borg, Esplora Interactive Science Centre and voluntary association Assoċjazzjoni Wirt il-Kalkara (AWK). It is supported by Arts Council Malta – Creative Communities.

“The initial purpose of this project was the possibility of providing the public with an experience that involves walking through Kalkara while also exploring the application of Esplora’s STEAM methodo­logy in daily life situations,” Borg says.

“From day one, we recognised the importance and the need of collaborating directly with the local community members who are the primary focus and protagonists of the project. This is precisely why the voluntary organisation AWK is one of the project partners.”

Throughout its few years of existence, AWK has managed to place on the national agenda the urgent need to restore Fort Ricasoli, while submitting reports on various aspects concerning Kalkara and its environment.

Last year, the association supported a crowdfunding campaign for a sea-bin in Kalkara Creek and inaugurated a monument in honour of a legend related to the Great Siege of Malta.

“Assoċjazzjoni Wirt il-Kalkara is the voice of the residents and all those who yearn for Kalkara’s best,” Duncan Brincat, secretary of AWK, says.

“Għaddi is in line with the generic aims of the association: it enhances and promotes the heritage instilled through the skills of the people of Kalkara and connects this with Esplora’s mission statement.”

After the project’s initial research stage of one-to-one meetings with the local community members, a number of group workshops were held, which had two principal objectives.

“On the one hand, Kristina worked with the residents to develop and co-write the narrative based on the collected stories, memories and experiences.

“The narrative is specific to Kalkara’s context and it was, in fact, developed in parallel to the mapping of the walking route as per the community members and AWK’s suggestions,” Rebecca Buttigieg, Esplora’s science coordinator of explainers and exhibits, says.

Participants meet five community members along the way, all of whom have a story to tell

“On the other hand, Esplora’s explainer team worked with the residents to develop hands-on activities that demonstrated some vital aspects of their residents’ respective skills while reflecting Esplora’s STEAM methodology.”

Esplora has expanded its focus from STEM to STEAM, combining art with its focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Science is when we learn about the world and engineering is when we use that knowledge to create new technology, while maths is the language that we use while doing this. However, art and STEM can’t be separated – creativity, design skills, collaboration and communication are essential for good STEM. And, likewise, every art form relies on its own specialised STEM field,” Buttigieg remarks.

The walks’ participants meet five community members along the way, all of whom have a story to tell, Brincat notes.

These are Frances Navarro, who was born and bred in Kalkara and is very skilled in rakkmu tad-deheb (gold embroidery); Joseph Navarro, a visual artist who is particularly inspired by Kalkara’s creek; Tessie Micallef, a shopkeeper who considers her workplace as a community hub; Victor Darmanin, a former Dockyard worker who is known in the locality for the cribs he creates; and the creative Yvonne Spiteri Ghio, who has been living in Kalkara for the past 30 years.

Besides narrating their stories at five stops along the walk’s route, these community members engage the participants in a number of hands-on activities.

“We tried to understand what each resi­dent was especially proud of regarding their skill and then celebrate that by designing an activity to give the public-participants a taste of it.

“We asked each resident to answer the question: what is something important that most people don’t understand about this skill,” Buttigieg says.

“For example, Tessie’s answer to this question was that running a shop isn’t just about interacting with customers − the most important part is actually antici­pating their needs while stocking the shop. So for her activity we created a custom game where participants stock their shop and then find out whether their choices satisfied their customers.

“In each case, there is some element of STEAM too – in Tessie’s case, it is an example of game theory, which is a field of maths.”

The project’s team hopes that participants will be enriched by their deeper knowledge of the community and its history but not only this.

“At Esplora, the essence of our core ideo­logy is just five words: explore, think, imagine, appreciate, create and we try to develop rich experiences for our visitors based on these verbs,” Buttigieg points out.

“The Għaddi project hits all of these notes. We would like participants to appreciate the history and culture of Kalkara and imagine what life there was like in the past, explore the residents’ stories through conversation and create their own art and, finally, think about how science, technology, engineering, art and maths are so tightly integrated into every part of our lives, both in the present and the past.”

The project was supposed to reach its final presentation stage in May. However, like several other projects and events, it went on hold due to the pandemic. In the meantime, the team revisited and tweaked the original plans so as to safeguard the health and safety of everyone involved: the community protagonists, the organising team and, of course, the public.

“Unfortunately, after taking into consideration all possible options, we had to reduce our target audience by more than 50 per cent,” Borg notes.

However, the team is more than grateful to be able to organise such an event in these difficult times.

“As we have seen throughout lockdown days, arts and culture have kept us company and many were those who referred to and sought such experiences. This continues to prove how essential the arts are for our well-being and social development, despite the fact that the arts are always put on the margins.

“Artistic and cultural events were among the first to stop in the wake of the pandemic and it will take a long while until these can fully flourish once again. In the meantime, we will do our best to think outside the box and work on alternatives.”

Taking part in Għaddi

The event, which kicked off last weekend and continues on Saturday, consists of five walks per day. Each walk is open to either one family or group, with a maximum of six people per group.

Each participant is given an audio narrative − on a MP3 player or else one can download it on one’s smartphone through a QR code from Esplora’s reception desk on the day of the walk – and a guidebook. Each person is also given a resource pack to be used at the stops.

The audio-narrative is in Maltese and Maltese sign language (for the latter, one needs to use one’s own smartphone). The guidebook is in Maltese and English. The activities at the different stops are in Maltese.

Tomorrow’s walks are fully booked but one can join a waiting list by visiting https://esplora.org.mt/ghaddi/.

Participants are to follow health safety guidelines.

For more information, follow the pro­ject’s Facebook page with the name Għaddi and AWK’s website at https://wirtilkal­kara.com where the legacy plan of the project will be launched later this year.