Culture on Wheels aims to give specially tailored cultural tours to people with compromised mobility. JOSEPH DEBONO speaks to Lara Zammit about his initiative.
Despite being diagnosed with ALS in March 2020, Joseph Debono has not let his condition deter him from contributing towards the well-being of society.
Best known for playing the character of James Bondin on the television programme Xarabank, Debono often uses social media to give testimony of his illness, sharing first-hand accounts of this condition in the hopes of helping others going through similar ordeals.
The project Culture on Wheels under the auspices of ALS Malta aims to provide affordable guided cultural tours specifically tailored for people who have difficulty with mobility, serving as a continuation of Debono’s work as a licenced tourist guide prior to his diagnosis. Speaking to Times of Malta about the initiative, Debono said that the love for culture and history was instilled in him in his 30s and has been central to his life ever since.
“In my school days, I did not like history, because at that time I saw it as an exercise in memorising important dates. In my 30s, I came across the book L-Istorja ta’ Malta by Andrew P. Vella and I was hooked.
“Later, I started attending the Sunday morning culture tours by the Ministry for Culture. Eventually, I started organising tours on behalf of the bank I worked at for my colleagues and their families. In the meantime, I bought books on Maltese history to continue enriching my knowledge. The more I learnt, the more fascinated I became.”
Considering that the project aims to guide people through these tours in spite of their issues with mobility, the tours themselves could be interpreted as an act of defiance, disallowing the participants’ condition from dictating more about their lives than it would like.
Asked whether he might characterise this project as an act of defiance, Debono said that, rather, the guiding principle behind the project is that of access and facilitation.
“I don’t see it as an act of defiance. Facilitation is a word that comes to mind, in the sense of making things easier. As a guide, I had two occasions where one of my clients was using a wheelchair. Now that I became confined to one myself, I wanted to make it easier for persons like me to be able to enjoy the richness of local heritage and sites. The principle was to remove barriers which discourage disabled persons from attending.”
Speaking to ALS Malta founder Bjorn Formosa about how he sees Culture on Wheels contributing to the organisation’s mission, Formosa maintained that this serves to promote culture among the patients while also giving them a chance to meet.
“Culture on Wheels is helping ALS Malta offer a new service while introducing art and culture to patients who previously didn’t have the opportunity to explore the riches of Malta’s cultural heritage. It’s also an opportunity for many neurological patients to meet and share their experiences.”
Culture on Wheels for ALS Malta has been funded through the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector on behalf of the Parliamentary Secretary for Sports, Recreation and Voluntary Organisations within the Ministry for Inclusion and Social Well-being. Anyone interested in attending these tours should contact the project team through the Culture on Wheels Facebook page or send an e-mail to cultureonwheels@alsmalta.org.