the Concept Stadium’s Marketing Executive and Office Manager, Maria Stivala, has just returned from a 3-week voluntary experience in Kenya. Here she explains the experience in her own words:
“It had been on my bucket list for years and when the right opportunity finally came along, I had to take it. Luckily, my colleagues were very supportive and after months of fundraising, together with the group Karibu Malta, we made it to Ruiru, a remote town outside the capital city Nairobi.
We found ourselves in a completely new culture, doing things we never thought we could do, like laying tiles and painting walls!
The days just flew by. A typical day at the compound consisted of a quick bite to eat for breakfast and out we used to go to play with the kids. Children used to arrive at the compound by 8 in the morning and our tasks usually involved organising sports games, educational lessons like geography and basic mathematics, drawing, doing crafts, and best of all dancing. How they love to dance!
On the other hand, some members of our group Karibu Malta were in charge of laying tiles in a newly built church about 30 minutes away from the sisters’ compound. The church was built by a Maltese priest who has been serving in Kenya for many years. Having about 700sqm to cover, finishing the job in just 3 weeks seemed impossible at first, but we all pitched in to help (including the girls!) and we did finish by the end of our stay.
At the end, we came back with an immensely satisfying feeling of having dedicated our time to help poor children live in a better environment and to just being with them, letting them know that we care about them”, concluded Maria.
Karibu Malta is a young organisation set up two years ago with the main aim of carrying out various activities to raise funds for the less fortunate. This year the organisation also sponsored a new kitchen for the children’s school at the Daughters of the Sacred Heart in Ruiru, Kenya.
