The curiosity to explore the world had been brewing in Roxy for a while.

After travelling in Asia, she felt like Africa was her next step, so that’s where she headed to next.

When Roxanna was looking into the possibilities of this new venture, she got some help from the Malta Voluntary Council which helps people out on one volunteering project a year.

Through searching on a volunteering website, she found a rural village in Kenya with the options to be a school assistance, a teacher or to build a school. And while she initially chose to teach, once she was there she found herself forming part of the building team too.

The school that’s being built has two and a half classrooms – the half referring to a room with no ceilings, benches, concrete and other necessary factors. So the team is finishing off that room and starting a fourth class which they just spent four weeks digging to level the floor on a hill.

Eventually, most likely after Roxanna finishes her volunteering, they will build a fifth and sixth classroom.

This project started two years ago, and since this area has never seen any schools, the concept of using up land wasn’t very well received by locals. Especially since education isn’t a big part of the culture, parents would generally prefer having their kids home to work.

Nonetheless, the volunteers want to bring knowledge and education into these rural areas, so that the children have the option to learn and do something with that knowledge if they so please.

“My goal is to slowly help reshape the attitude toward education and get people to understand the necessity of the school,” Roxanna said.

“I don’t expect to leave and have the school built, the aim is to expose the people to education. Even if one parent steps in and helps out, that’s a goal in itself.”

While the situation has improved in the last two years, Roxanna did admit that there’s still some reluctance from parents and locals who would rather have their children helping them out with the work.

Yet, in these last four weeks, Roxanna has already noticed an improvement in the locals’ willingness to help out.

“At first, it was just the volunteers building the school but now we have seven guys helping us out in exchange for English lessons. So after I’m done teaching the kids, we go to that third classroom and I help them learn English.”

Roxanna wakes up at 4am everyday to learn Swahili and ensure that she can effectively teach and communicate with the locals. She also teaches PE along with English.

Nonetheless, the hard work is what makes this all worth it. In fact, when talking about her favourite part of living in Kenya she said it’s all about the connections she’s formed.

“My favourite part is the connections I’ve made with people who are supposed to be [culturally] different. I’ve made such special connections with the kids, the workers and the teachers. We go to funerals of people where it’s all about dancing and creating a connection built on joy.”

“Joy is universal no matter our differences.”

Would you ever travel across continents to volunteer?