“Our names are Raul, Sofia, Giulia and Pietro and we spent three weeks in Mozambique with AGAPE, from mid-August to early September. We worked at Machaka, a Mozambican association that operates in Mafalala, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Maputo, the country’s capital city. We took part in activities dedicated to the children of the neighborhood, organizing creative workshops with tempera, brushes and recycled materials: we built and decorated papier-mâché volcanoes, painted t-shirts, made birdhouses using recycled plastic cans and much more. We worked completely immersed in the reality of the neighborhood, living an experience of pure authenticity in contact with local volunteers such as Horácio and João with fantastic children who were always lively and ready to have fun, with people who with just a smile and a “Bom dia” always made us feel at home.

Thanks to a modest fundraiser we were able to finance, in addition to the purchase of the materials necessary for the activities we organized, the construction of a bathroom at the association’s headquarters and the organization of the Urban Music Festival Kids, a dance and music event that takes place every year on the initiative of the volunteers of Machaka. We therefore thank AGAPE for allowing us to support local instances of development and change, promoting direct contact with a different, but genuinely true, reality.”