Il-qabla : May Pecorella

Abstract

May Pecorella comes from a family of midwives. Her grandmother, mother and two younger sisters were midwives. She started working as a qualified midwife in 1944 when she completed her two years nursing course followed by an 18-month midwifery training programme. As a midwifery student, she performed her clinical training at Ċini Hospital which also served as a boarding school for students. Ms Pecorella practised midwifery around the Island. She travelled around Malta with her Ford V8 to provide antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal midwifery care. Unfortunately, the family tradition of midwives has ended with her generation, although she is proud to have her niece Dr Corinne Ward Scicluna in nursing. She also has many other nieces and great-nieces mostly women who are doctors and dentists in the UK and dreams that one day one of them will continue the Pecorella Midwifery legacy. Although she never had children of her own, she is considered to be the Matriarch of the Pecorella Clan amounting to more than 100 nieces and nephews. With Italian origins, her father hailing from Southern Italy, family get-togethers are sacred and Sunday is still a family day with her family gathered around her. Until not long ago she was also the one cooking or contributing to these extended family lunches.