Maltese Catholic Youth Group Members Get Out Of Their Comfort Zone In Three-Week Botswana Camp
A couple of members of the Żgħażagħ Azzjoni Kattolika (ŻAK) youth group international spoke out after enjoying a unique voluntary experience at a Catholic camp in Botswana over spoke.
The experience started around a year and a half ago when Maria Zammit, a ŻAK leader in Siġġiewi, was approached to be a team leader at the 2022 Fimcap World Camp.
The Fimcap World Camp is an event that involves members of Catholic youth groups from around the world meeting up to carry out voluntary work together, while living with families in the locality.
Maria, who had already participated at the 2018 World Camp in the Philippines, signed up, stating she wanted to give other youths the same opportunity she had.
Teaming up with her friend Tina, a Belgian national, Maria spent months planning and coordinating camp in Botswana for 53 participants from around the world.
One of the 53 participants was Dawn Powell, also a ŻAK leader in Siġġiewi.
In Botswana, Maria delivered workshops and assisted with logistics while Dawn got to help renovate a community hall that had been vandalised.
With the help of people in the community, she managed to paint the outdoor gate and two sides of the building, fix the broken windows, and improve the layout of the outdoor space.
Maria said that while the experience was a very tiring one, it was all worth it when she realised the effect it had, the new friendships that were created and the help provided by the volunteers.
Dawn described the three-week adventure as a “very important experience” which helped her realise different global realities but also how much in common people living on the other side of the world can have with each other.
“When a group of people from different countries and cultures come together with one aim, the result can be beautiful,” she said. “The love I felt during these three weeks was indescribable.”
Would you like to go on a similar three-week experience?
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