Absentee Voting Week

All American citizens living in Malta are invited to register to vote in the forthcoming Presidential election. Thanks to a service being offered by the US Embassy you can now register here in Malta rather than write to the US. Events will be held both in Malta and Gozo and will be managed by staff from the US Embassy.  They will be hosting two separate events, one in Gozo on Thursday, October 4th and one in Malta at Verdala International School on Friday, October 5th beginning at 2:00 p.m.  The process is very simple and straight forward. If you are not registered, there will be a table where you can register. After this short process is completed you can then case your ballot. On the other hand, if you are registered all you need to do is vote. The embassy will send the ballot box back to the United States.

Stars and Stripes Malta encourage you to vote in the Presidential elections. If there are people with special needs or if you would like someone from Stars And Stripes Malta to assist you during the process get in touch.

If you are aware of other people, don’t forget to pass this message on to them.

SASM's 2nd Annual Get Together: What a Party!

SASM 2nd annual get together that was held at Ta’ Kenuna Bar and Restaurant in Nadur Gozo. The event was well attended (we tripled the number of attendees over last year).

A group of volunteers arrived beforehand so that we could decorate the place and turn the restaurant into Festive USA mode. Photos clearly indicate that we overcame this challenge with flying colours.

We soon realized that the area we had originally reserved (double of what we had last year) was not sufficient. Luckily Ta Kenuna Restaurant had an additional dining area that allowed is to spill over into this area.

The event kicked off with the singing of the US National Anthem after which the food starting being served. In the background US songs could, at times, be heard over the chatter and laughter of SASM members as well friends and family who accompanied them.

After the tables were cleared of the second course, President Alan Bonnici and Honorary President Mark Miceli-Farrugia thanked those who had attended the event as well as the committee of SASM who put time and effort into making SASM into the active and dynamic organisation it is. SASM is a not-for-profit organisation by members for members. It thrives on the input of its members and offers services and support to all those who have at heart the continuing good relations between Malta and the USA. It aims to keep a bit of the USA alive for those Americans and Maltese who reside in Malta as well as retain and project Maltese culture and lifestyle to those who left the Maltese islands in the past. With the latter SASM hopes to extend Malta to subsequent generations of Maltese living abroad who, because of circumstance, may not appreciate their Maltese heritage. Special thanks to the success of this particular event went to committee members Joyce Grech and Joe Meilak who were in charge of organising this event.

As desert made it way to the tables, Joyce Grech took charge of the raffle. Prizes donated by Meridiana Wine Estate, onNeutral’s Bulk SMS Services, Budweiser and Ta’ Kenuna Bar And Restaurant were distributed to attendees. Thanks to the generous donations many of the attendees walked out with a gift (some with two or more).

This August evening came to a close with the singing of the Maltese national anthem. At the end, those who live in Gozo drove or walked home, those who come from Malta headed for the ferry and those who live in the USA will continue their holidaying in Malta until they have to go back to the USA.

Stars and Stripes Malta would like to thank the following organisations and individuals for helping to make this such a special occasion:
• Mr Charles Calleja
• Mr Charlie Tewma
• Budweiser
• Embassy of the United States of America
• Meridiana Wine Estate
• Ta’ Kenuna Bar And Restaurant
• onNeutral’s Bulk SMS Services

SASM's 4th of July Word Cloud

Help us define SASM's 4th of July ECard

We would like to run a special edition of Stars And Stripes Malta News covering the USA’s largest holiday, Independence day. Send us your thoughts, pictures, quotes and other publishable material. We will then go through the material and through our combined effort create a web page to mark the occasion.  Your submission must be at us by the 1st of July. The material you send can be of yourselves or it can be public domain stuff you would like to share with the rest of the world.

We will print the names of all those who have participated unless you tell us otherwise.


Send your contributions including your details to info@StarsAndStripesMalta..com.

Thank You

I would like to express my thanks to the committee of SASM for their support, prayers and kind words following my father’s passing on. I would also like to thank all those from the US Embassy who communicated their condolences.

My father was three weeks away from his 89th birthday and apart from the last few days had lived a physically healthy life to its fullest. For many years he made New York his home. Upon his return to Malta, he would proudly hoist the US flag onto a pole with a silver eagle on many occasions. Celebrating US festivities were a common occurrence at home and this was more so when others who, like him, had lived in Manhattan, started retiring in Malta.

Alan Bonnici

4th of July / SASM annual get together

As all of you know our committee is split between the Maltese islands and the east and west coast of the USA. Our normal day to day activities are only possible thanks to technology. This year whilst planning our annual 4^th of July celebrations we learnt that both Louis and John will be in Malta a few weeks after this national holiday. A dilemma arose on whether we should remain faithful (or as faithful as possible) to the 4^th or whether we should shift this occasion to a date when the entire committee could attend. We decided for the latter as this gives all those who attend to get the rare opportunity to meet SASM’s committee in its entirety.

In order to make this happen we have set SASM’s annual get together to Friday August 3^rd.  As was the case last year we will be holding this event at Ta’Kenuna in Nadur. Given this special occasion we will working triply hard to make sure everyone who attends has a great time with prizes and loads of fund for kids and adults alike.

If you  have any comments or suggestions how to make this a special night then drop us a note. Joyce Grech, our hard working PRO is the person organising this event. Address your suggestions to her on joyce.a.grech@gov.mt. If you would like to lend a hand with the organisation of this event contact her.

25 Beneficiaries Of International Protection Depart For The United States Of America

25 persons from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan all of whom are single adult men left today to start a new life in the United States, under the US Refugee Resettlement Program (USRRP). On arrival, they will be assisted by NGOs in the U.S.A. to proceed to their final destinations in various states. This latest departure brings the total of beneficiaries of international protection who were resettled to the United States from Malta since such resettlements started in 2007 to 896. To date, 28 migrants have been resettled from Malta to the U.S.A. during the month of April - 85 since the start of the year. More beneficiaries of international protection are expected to leave to the United States in the coming weeks.

In all 1,507 refugees and beneficiaries of international protection have been relocated or resettled to various other developed countries since 2005.

The persons who departed this morning were selected following a process involving the UNHCR (Malta office) as well as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) at various stages. US Government officials also conducted interviews in Malta.