A Successful Story

The idea of having a website dedicated solely to our village started on March 2002 when Kevin Cauchi, Joseph Sultana and Anthony Scicluna decided to launch Ghajnsielem.com. Ghajnsielem.com was born three months later, on the 1st July 2002. The website virtually offers information, resources and news coverage related with Ghajnsielem.

Ghajnsielem.com was proudly the first website in Gozo to transmit an event live on the internet. In fact it was only two months after its launch that Ghajnsielem.com transmitted the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto live on the Internet. On December 2002 Ghajnsielem.com had a record of three webcams transmitting live video images from the Christmas Village and the same number of webcams were available for 2004's feast. Meanwhile, while Anthony Scicluna left the team to focus on his studies, Joseph and Kevin continued to focus on their dream of putting all the village's organizations, history and culture online. Today, Kevin Cauchi manages the news articles while Joseph Sultana is responsible for the photos.

Another milestone was reached when Loreto Scicluna launched the Ghajnsielem F.C. section with daily news update, video replays, match report and a state-of-the-art database highlighting the club's illustrious history. A few months later, the St Joseph Band Club, the Local Council and the Boys Museum Society also decided to host their website in Ghajnsielem.com thus turning this website into a web-portal or a one-stop site for everything associated with our village. Later, Bethlehem f'Ghajnsielem was also added to the list of hosted websites. In fact, it is the only website in Malta and Gozo that managed to keep all the organizations represented together under “one roof”. In other words, www.ghajnsielem.com is the only address that our emigrants need to remember in mind! For the 2008, Ghajnsielem.com started to provide video content to enhance its news articles. On the same year, Ghajnsielem.com has also printed a set of t-shirts with the website's logo and featuring the words 'Viva x-Xemx' for the feast of 'Our Lady of Loreto'. The t-shirts proved to be very popular among the Ghajnselmizi proving that Ghajnsielem.com has become a popular brand among locals. On the same year, Ghajnsielem.com launched the Biography section dedicated to the people who have 'left their mark' in Ghajnsielem. The section was called 'Hall of Fame' and is constantly updated with new information. In 2010, Ghajnsielem.com decided to embrace the social media by adding RSS feeds, a YouTube video page and a dedicated Facebook fanpage. It is worth noting that by 1st July 2012, 10 years after it was born, Ghajnsielem.com managed to publish 1200 news articles and a staggering total of 50,000 photos complementing these articles. Meanwhile, Ghajnsielem.com is currently working on a new design and logo which will be launched within the next few months. The new design will incorporate the new social media and other realities which today form part of the Web 2.0.

Ghajnsielem.com is more regarded as a web-portal than a website. A portal is a website that is used as a starting point or a gateway linking similar resources together. In fact, Ghajnsielem.com is a one-stop site for everything you need about Ghajnsielem.
 

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2011

Tuesday, 18th January 2011
Ghajnsielem unite to honour Mgr G. Zerafa

The funeral of 72-year old Monsignor Joseph (Ġużeppi) Zerafa, the second Archpriest and tenth parish-priest of the Ghajnsielem Parish was held today in a most solemn manner honoured by the presence of a huge congregation who filled his beloved church with the Ghajnslemizi packing the doorways and spilling onto the church parvis. Born on the 20th of February 1938, Archpriest Emeritus Mgr. G. Zerafa passed away on Wednesday 12th January after a short illness. The day-long event started early in the morning when his body laid in state at his family's residence as the Ghajnslemizi slowly paid their last respects.  more

Sunday, 14th March 2010
Historic moment for the bells project

A few days ago, Archpriest Frankie Bajada together with a small group of parishioners were present for another memorable step in the completion of the bells project... the casting of the first five bells. The whole set consists of eight bells. This step was possible due to the planning done, the designs made by our local artists and the generous offerings of our parishioners. Donations keep pouring in. The first five bells to be casted are: Maria Francesca, Maria Filomena, Maria Carmela, Maria Dolora and Maria Silvana. The casting took place at the Cornille-Havard Foundry in Villedieu les Poelles, Normandy France.  more

Sunday, 24th May 2009
Church dome restoration well underway

Structural intervention works on the lantern of the dome of the Ghajnsielem Archparish Church are well underway after all MEPA permits have been approved. The restoration is taking place after cracks started to develop on the upper part, leading to water leakage and other related problems. In the coming days, the lantern (upper part of the cupola) will be rebuilt from scratch. Work is being carried out by local master mason Leli Saliba (Bufajra) and his son. Leli can be seen at work early in the morning before the sun intensifies, working on several wooden scaffolding structures which pronominally cover the whole dome.  more

Saturday, 11th October 2008
Work on 'live crib' at Ta Passi fields start

Sunday, 5th August 2007
Ghajnsielem has a new radio station!

The beginning of Radju Lauretana … a dream has come true. Live transmissions started today as the Viva x-Xemx was aired together with the Antifona. You could see parishioners crying with joy when our wonderful antifona was heard on the waves for the very first time. People flocked to see the studio and the total set up.  more

Sunday, 10th December 2006
Can. Frankie Bajada installed as new Archpriest

Ghajnsielem successfully revived an old tradition by dedicating 7 days of celebrations to our village. The activities involved all the main organizations and reached the climax on Sunday 10th December, the liturgical Feast of Our Lady of Loreto when Can. Frankie Bajada was also formally installed as the third Archpriest of Ghajnsielem parish.  more

Sunday, 1st May 2005
Ghajnsielem F.C. celebrates sixth title

The Club clinched the sixth championship in their history with a 2-0 victory in a nail biting encounter against main challengers Xewkija Tigers played in front of 3,000 people, a record for a regular season league match. It was also Ghajnsielem's eleventh league win in a row. Edoardo do Nascimento and N'dayi Kalenga scored the all-important goals. Hundreds of fans not only witnessed the conquest of the Club's sixth top-tier title but participated in it and in its aftermath. more

Friday, 20th August 2004
Titular Statue coated in fine Gold

Hundreds of Ghajnsilmizi gathered on Ta' Pinu Sanctuary square to see the statue of Our Lady of Loreto after being restored and re-coated with fine Gold. A carcade then accompanied the statue to the Sanctuary of 'Our Lady of Loreto'. On Saturday at 6.15pm, St Joseph Band accompanied the titular statue to the main square where a special mass was concelebrated  by Bishop Mons. Nikol G. Cauchi. The water laid gilding was sponsored by Joseph Vassallo.   more

Friday 1st August 2003
First Cultural exchange with Tolfa

The first cultural exchange trip in Tolfa was held when the Ghajnsielem F.C. was invited to make the first visit to Tolfa. The tears of the last day showed that a new friendship has started between the two communities. The relationship between the two towns started a few months earlier when Tolfa mayor Alessandro Battilocchio decided to send a fax with an invitation to discuss the proposal of twinning between the two towns.  more

Sunday, 15th December 2002
President De Marco visits Christmas village

As part of the official Christmas celebrations, a spectacular Santa Clause show was organized with the help of the civil protection unit. Later in the evening, President Guido de Marco paid an official visit. The President was very impressed with the local talent and described the crib as ''a marvelous work''. He also thanked the local council for its help. The crib was officially opened by Minister Giovanna Debono on Saturday.  more