When Ben Stivala and other volunteers first walked towards an orphanage in Nakuru, Kenya, they felt like they were heading into a farm, since children were living in awful conditions.
“There were chicks and cats running around. The children shared bedrooms the size of a bed. Four children slept in each room, on bunk beds.
“Their wardrobe was a box underneath their bed. Their toothbrushes were all worn out,” Ms Stivala recalled.
That was what she saw in 2003 when volunteers from Faces, a registered voluntary organisation, first visited the orphanage.
Since then the organisation has helped fund a new building, called the St Ġorġ Preca Home, which was inaugurated in 2008.
“Now the children have proper bedrooms and toilet facilities,” she said.
Once the orphanage was up and running, Faces continued to help by covering the children’s educational costs through a coordinating sponsorship programme.
They are also working on improving the facilities for the orphanage’s 60 children.
This August, a group of volunteers will go to Nakuru to help build a boundary wall around the site to make it more secure.
During their three-week stay, the volunteers will also carry out landscaping at the home and do groundwork to start building a playground and borehole.
After setting up a computer room, the group is also planning to give the children computer lessons and is collecting laptops for them to use.
Faces aims to improve the quality of life of people who – due to poverty, displacement and other adverse situations – are unable to access vital services such as health care and education.
It is currently running another two projects.
It is sponsoring children’s education in Arequipa, Peru, where families struggle due to extremely low salaries.
And in 2009, Faces embarked on a new project in Buza, a slum area on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, running a temporary clinic and school aimed at improving the quality of life and opportunties available to people residing in this slum area.
For more information on Faces and how to help the organisation, visit the website facescharity.org or contact Ms Stivala at ben@facescharity.org or 9947 2207.