Twenty-two years ago, Joe Cuschieri stopped to help a panicky University student whose car broke down in Paceville at 1 a.m. Little did he know that his act of kindness would one day take him within one step of winning an all-expenses-paid dream trip to the Australian Open.
The student, Paul Fenech, now 44, entered a competition on Facebook, organised by Kia Motors, where he recounted the story of how he met his best friend Mr Cuschieri 22 years ago.
“My car had stopped in the middle of the road after only a couple of minutes of leaving Paceville. I was on my own but no one stopped to help me out, or check if I needed any help,” he said.
Stranded in the middle of the night and with an important University test the following morning, Mr Fenech started pushing his car to the side of the road. No one bothered to assist except for Mr Cuschieri, who stopped his car and towed him all the way to Għaxaq. “Not only that, but he also gave me his car so that I could drive to University the next day,” Mr Fenech said.
This unexpected act of kindness sparked a strong friendship that grew over the years, to the extent that Mr Fenech asked Mr Cuschieri to be best man at his wedding.
Mr Fenech recently noticed that Kia Motors – one of the main sponsors of large tennis tournaments – launched a competition on Facebook asking people to submit a story about an event in their life “involving a vehicle, yourself, and one other person”.
The prize was a “dream come true” for avid tennis player Mr Fenech – an all-expenses-paid trip to the Australian Open Tennis Championship for the top two stories voted by Facebook users.
Mr Fenech sent in their story, describing how they met. To his surprise he was contacted by the organisers, who asked him to submit a photo because his story was shortlisted among the final 10 stories.
“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing – a spark went off in my head when I saw the competition and I immediately thought of Joe and how we met,” Mr Fenech said.
“I applied for the competition because it was a true story – a simple but a true account of how we became best friends through my broken-down car,” Mr Fenech said.
The story of the two Maltese best friends now has the second highest number of votes, beaten so far only by a story submitted by a Philippine man.
“Paul didn’t tell me that he submitted our story, but when he told me we were shortlisted, I really liked it – especially if you think about the prize,” Mr Cuschieri explained.
Although the two men lead busy lives, they meet regularly.
“Paul’s car’s breaking down led to a long and strong friendship – he is a gentleman. I liked him immediately and we remained close friends over the years,” Mr Cuschieri said.
Mr Fenech has nothing but praise for his best friend. “I was struck by his kindness and his good heart – he still goes out of his way to help people and that is one of the reasons why we remained best friends,” he said.
The two friends are appealing for people to vote for their story on Facebook before the competition closes on Thursday.
To vote, log on to http://apps.facebook.com/kiasmile/ , click on the link to the story ‘How I Met My Best Friend’ by Paul Fenech, and press the ‘Like’ button.