{"id":53620,"date":"2025-12-02T09:01:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/?p=53620"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:01:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:01:01","slug":"dr-lydia-abela-launches-the-sixth-edition-of-rigal-bi-mhabba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/dr-lydia-abela-launches-the-sixth-edition-of-rigal-bi-mhabba\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Lydia Abela launches the sixth edition of \u2018Rigal bi M\u0127abba\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">In Castille Square, the wife of the Prime Minister, Dr Lydia Abela launched the sixth edition of Rigal bi M\u0127abba, an initiative in favour of vulnerable children so that they too can receive a gift as a result of the love of the Maltese and Gozitan people during Christmas.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">The launch took place in the presence of the La Voix Harmonies choir, which year after year creates a song for this initiative that leaves a strong message of hope and solidarity.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\"> Dr Lydia Abela explained how the Rigal bi M\u0127abba initiative was born from a dream between her and her daughter Giorgia-Mae, but today the dream has turned into a movement that brings together thousands of people who together give joy to the children who are the most vulnerable in our society.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">She stressed that while many families enjoy Christmas in abundance, there are others who suffer or live in difficult circumstances.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\"> \u201cOur wish is simple but meaningful, that every child has a gift under the Christmas tree and that no one feels forgotten,\u201d said Dr Abela.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\"> Dr Abela explained that gifts can be left under the Christmas tree located in Castille Square between the 12th and 19th of December.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">She also announced that from the 15th of December to the 24th of December, the Square will be transformed into a Christmas Village with activities for families, traditional Christmas food and drinks, as well as local crafts.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">The closing of Rigal bi M\u0127abba will take place on Friday, 19th of December, with a day full of activities, including a musical performance by local talent, as well as a concert by the Armed Forces of Malta Band.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">Dr Abela also acknowledged the important role of local councils and schools that have come together again this year to contribute.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">She mentioned in particular her experience when she visited the \u0120u\u017ceppina Deguara Primary School, where the children presented gifts that they had prepared themselves together with their teachers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"HwtZe\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">During the launch, Dr Abela also announced that the Rigal bi M\u0127abba b\u2019Differenza initiative in aid of animals, an initiative that was born together with Jake Vella and this year will be extended to Gozo as well, will be relaunched.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\"> She concluded by thanking the Ministry for Social Policy and Children\u2019s Rights and all the disciplined bodies involved in the organisation and distribution of the 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The launch took place in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_53620\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"53620\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 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Lynch","author_link":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/author\/bernardlynch\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In Castille Square, the wife of the Prime Minister, Dr Lydia Abela launched the sixth edition of Rigal bi M\u0127abba, an initiative in favour of vulnerable children so that they too can receive a gift as a result of the love of the Maltese and Gozitan people during Christmas. The launch took place in the&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53622,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53620\/revisions\/53622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livenewsmalta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}