Back home after 73 years

Helen Pulé, who is now 86 years old, grew up in Malta and lived there until her early teens. She moved to Tunisia with her family when she was 14 and never came back. She returned to Malta after an amazing 73 years last week to attend the feast of St Helen’s in her native Birkirkara. She came to Malta with the assistance of the producers of 'Baqghu Maltin', a TV programme that features Maltese communities around the world. Gerald Fenech writes for the Malta Independent:

An 86-year-old woman, born in Malta, returned to her “homeland” this week after 73 years, still speaking the language pretty clearly, although she has spent practically all her life in Tunisia.This is the story of Helen Pulé, who returned to Malta last Thursday to attend the feast of St Helen’s in Birkirkara, which is being celebrated tomorrow. Birkirkara was Helen’s home town in her youth. Helen, who unfortunately lost one of her legs in an accident when she was only four, is cheerful, sprightly and charming, radiating life and the joy of living in every sense of the word...

I married my first husband in the 1930s but he died in the war in 1940. He left me with three children and so I had to fend for myself. Then I remarried and had three more children. Although I had some hardship, I can’t really grumble about life, as I have always found people to help me, considering my disability.”...

Helen’s father no longer wanted to live in Malta after she had her accident when she was four years old, but Helen definitely did not forget her homeland.“On Thursday I even managed to find the old house where we used to live in St Roque Street, where some of my relatives still live, and I hope to meet more of them in the next few days. I have very fond memories of St Helen’s church, as I was baptised there and also received my First Holy Communion and Confirmation too,” Helen explained. She recalls that her mother died in Tunisia, pining for her homeland and she also expressed the wish to be able to die here...