Hajja Salesjana October - December 2018

3 1 playing and being present a m o n g s t the younger c h i l d r e n who gather there to play football, netball or basketball. Salesians here, together with a group of very dedicated lay people are helping the youth of the area to search for a better and higher purpose through a disciplined structure of football training and competitions – also on a local level. The senior team will be, for its first time, competing in the 3rd Division League! As a farewell, we joined the senior players and the novices for a friendly match. Following these days we moved to another Salesian community in Dodoma which offers a Seminary school and a Technical Institute. The Seminary school consists of 130 students, who are also boarders and are split between two years (Form 5 & Form 6). They follow a daily timetable which supports their educational, spiritual and physical needs, comprising of time dedicated to prayer, school, chores, sports and study. We used to join in during their time of prayer, sports and recreation. Here we managed to build good relationships through the sports themselves but also through sharing of experiences, juggling, card games, card tricks and other recreational activities. As a concluding gesture, we decided to give a handmade bracelet and cook some traditional ‘Imqaret’ for all the boarding students and their teachers; which have been greatly appreciated. The Technical Institute, which is currently undergoing several renovations, offers various courses to students interested in Masonry, Mechanics, Welding, Carpentry, and others. It emphasises on practical learning and thus depends mostly on the students’ work to finish its renovations and new buildings. We thus joined the Masonry short course students in the mornings and gave a helping hand in all of the processes required for doing bricks and pavement bricks. This served as an excellent opportunity to also build a very good and joyful relationship with most of them. Other works that were carried out by ourselves during our stay was the painting of Mary Help of Christians on one of the Technical Institute walls and also the drawing of an indoor Badminton court for the students at the Seminary School to make use of during their time of recreation. While in Africa, we could not miss a visit to one of Tanzania’s biggest National Parks and thus managed to experience some wildlife in Ruaha National Park during one of our weekends in Tanzania. We then concluded our 7 week experience by going to Zanzibar; an island known for its beaches and warm weather – we saw it as a good preparation for the beaches and warm weather here in Malta. We would like to thank all those who supported us before and during our experience. A special thanks goes to the all the donators and benefactors who have helped us bring a smile to young and old people alike. It istruly a learning experience which will guide us throughout our future Salesian work in Malta.