Nine-year-old Eve* is worried that, once she grows a bit more, she will not be able to play her favourite game in the shallow pool at the residential home where she lives.

"I and the other children here like playing in the pool. Our favourite game is swimming underwater to see who can hold their breath the longest. But when we grow a bit more the pool will be too shallow for us to keep playing this game," she says as she stands in the knee-deep water.

"But now they are going to make it bigger and deeper. They'll be a barbecue here to collect money for our pool," she giggles.

Tomorrow, the nuns who run Angela House, in Guardamangia, will be holding a fund-raising barbecue to raise money to enlarge the pool.

"The pool was built 50 years ago, when the house was constructed. Throughout the years we've maintained it but now it has become too small for the 45 children who live with us," Sister Luciana Mizzi says. Children have to be divided into groups and wait for their turn to swim. Due to the lack of space, the nuns often end up taking some children to swim at the beach, where they are constantly worried about their safety.

This is a pity since the pool is built near a large playground and there is ample space to enlarge it.

Like all residential homes, Angela House is in constant need of funds to make ends meet as caring for the 45 children is very costly. The house hosts boys until the age of nine and girls until they turn 18. These children are provided with food, clothes, medicines and education, among other things.

"We would not be able to live without people's generosity. Thank the Lord, people are good to us and help us out," the nun admits.

The barbecue will be held at Angela House, in Ursuline Street Guardamangia at 7.30 p.m. It will be preceded by a Mass at 6.30 p.m.

Anyone who wishes to attend the barbecue can call Angela House on 2122 5420/2123 6630 or buy tickets at the door. Those who wish to help in any other way can also do so by calling the house or going there.

*Name has been changed.