In addition to the project “Make a WISH to the Order of Malta”, the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta has been providing for years valuable support to the Shelter for Children in Belgrade through the project “A hot Meal in a cold Winter”. The Shelter is an institution which provides assistance to the most vulnerable categories of young people from all over Serbia. These are children aged 7 to 18, often victims of violence, abuse and neglect, victims of human trafficking, children without parental care.

This year the Shelter also has an additional problem caused by Covid-19.

Their team of experts, in this delicate phase of the epidemic, holds educational and psychological workshops for children informing them about the nature of the Corona virus, how it is transmitted and what measures can be taken to protect themselves and others. These workshops are adapted to the children’s age and among other things, include drawing, teaching how to recognize reliable sources of information on the Internet, following news on the pandemic in Serbia and abroad. In addition to these activities, they also organize psychological workshops where they talk to children about the emotional side of isolation that can cause restlessness and discomfort.

When children in need of care and help are hosted for the first time at the Shelter, they stay for days in separate rooms in order to keep protected other children and employees from the virus; only after 14 days will they be able to join the others.

The most important thing to respect protection measures is the use of masks provided by the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Belgrade thanks to generous donation from a group of donors; the same one that had gathered at Luigi and Ulrike’s home in recent years for a New Year’s Charity dinner in favor of “A hot Meal in a cold Winter”.  

This year it was not possible to meet again physically but they still wanted to be close to children from the Shelter.