Some of the people who gathered at the function
San Marino for the Children Trust, an association from the Republic of San Marino, officially opened the San Marino Nursery School in Matola, Balaka on Thursday 28 February in a colourful ceremony.
Mr. Marino, representing the volunteers from San Marino and Andrew Galeta, the board chairman of the San Marino Trust cut the ribbon marking the official opening of the Nursery School that has an enrolment of 200 children.
Also officially opened on the day were a maize meal that uses diesel, a fountain where the community can access safe water, and a family house that will guest some orphans.
Marino and Galeta cutting the ribon
The gathering which brought together people of different colours and creeds reminded everyone the cooperation that exists between the missionaries who came in the country with the locals and donors is bearing its fruits.
In his homily, Fr. Mario Pacifici, the founding trustee of Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust (AYCT) who was also a Parish Priest for St. Louis Montfort Parish reminded the congregation how small they started in Malawi and how some people misunderstood the locals who worked them to the extent of calling them “Akapolo aAroma” (slaves of Romans).
Fr. Mario said this in reference to what they are achieving now after cooperating together.
Though at Matola there is no hydroelectric power from Electricity Supply Cooperation of Malawi (ESCOM), the community has now a maize meal and solar panels that help to pump water for everyone.
The republic of San Marino also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino is an enclave microstate surrounded by Italy, situated on the Italian Peninsula on the north-eastern side of the Apennine Mountains.
Its size is just over 61 square kilometres with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.
