Our journey started 9 months before we flew to the beautiful country of Kenya. In Malta, we planned several fundraising activities to collect money for Amigos missions in Africa. We had countless meetings and a live-in throughout this time in preparation for our mission together.

Soon enough it was time to fly some 2,900 miles to Kenya. Once there, it was impossible not to fall in love with Kenya. The nature was breathtaking. Apart from this, the Kenyans were highly educated and incredibly kind and welcoming. Their faith was also remarkable. They truly knew how to celebrate mass! All the singing and dancing was so soulful that you always left with a smile on your face.

Our primary missions in Kisumu, Ishiara and Mbwiru were to build houses for families in need. One such family needed a new home because their previous house was collapsing due to flooding. The flooding was occasionally so bad that they had to sleep in a tree! Another family consisted of a mother and 3 children all sleeping together in a very small tiny house. The father had passed away recently and with the children growing up, they needed a larger space where to live. Our hearts were filled with satisfaction and love seeing these houses come together. The families reciprocated with boundless gratitude.

When we were not building houses, we were giving out food to some of the poorest, and visiting school children. At the schools, we were welcomed in the warmest ways imaginable. We were treated like royalty, sung to and danced to. Some of the children got to see white people for the first time!

All in all it was an unforgettable experience and our biggest takeaway has been to show gratitude to everyone and for everything we have been blessed with in our lives.

Mariana Grima



If you had to do it again, would you? This was a question that several people asked me many times since I arrived. My answer will be immediately; "YES!".

I had been listening about this walk or rather this pilgrimage for a few years now. I knew many who done it from various youth groups and I was always tempted, but to be honest it seemed something relatively strange to me; because to walk all that distance (about 120Km in 6 days) with the things you need on your back is not so common. Doing such an experience for the first time on my own would have been difficult and I wanted to find a youth group that I could join and do this experience as a community.

Fortunately, the details of the camino experience from Augustinian Youths reached me. Of course, I have immediately accepted this opportunity so that I accomplish one of my desires and check another thing from the "bucket list". At first it was months away and although I was eager I was not worried about this challenge that there was in front of me. But as soon as the weeks approached I felt like I wasn't ready and I was a little bit scared; I started to realize how much I might not have prepared enough although we had walks, meetings and even live-ins to get to know better the idea of ​​the Camino and doing this experience together as a group.

In the end, although you practice hard, you will never feel the same experience of the Camino. It was something surreal to wake up in the morning and know that you will pass through the countryside, forest, villages and fields. You meet all kinds of greenery, nature and beautiful views. I felt like I was living in a children's storybook, apart from that phrase "Buen Camino", which you and walking people you have never met end up giving you this wish.

In a beautiful scenery we ended up meeting other pilgrims, who were walking with us and over time we started to develop this friendship with each other. People come from every corner of the world, everyone with their own goal and personal experience.

There are many reasons why these pilgrims were doing this walk: there are those who like me, perhaps go for such an experience for curiosity, those who perhaps would like to take it as a personal challenge from the physical aspect. But I think the Camino is capable of surprising you in a way that you are not expecting. Although it was curiosity and the desire to experience something different that helped me say yes to the walk, I wasn't expecting other things.

The Camino can be considered a great metaphor for life. The route includes long walks with steep climbs and descents, stretches of nearly flat ground, smooth and rough terrain.  Forests and even "highways", sun or rain were also part of our walk! Along the way I started to pay attention to what before perhaps did not think about. It will be you and the silence, you and your thoughts. The place will help you reflect and do an examination of conscience and continue to discover what God wants from you.

It was a Pandora's box that was opened during the walk. I allowed myself to get lost in the Camino experience, both physically but also spiritually and mentally. I will never forget the moment when after all those days of walking we arrived at that square in front of the Cathedral of St. James, an indescribable emotion that left me speechless. Joy because we have arrived, after the sacrifice and pain we experienced during the route, but at the same time sadness that the experience has reached its climax. In the end great gratitude to have been one of the pilgrims who experienced the Camino de Santiago.

I would like to encourage those who, even if perhaps out of curiosity, go for it and embark on this unique experience. I am sure it will certainly have an impact on their lives. Finally, I would like to thank especially Fr Terence Spiteri and the Augustinian Youths for the opportunity, for this unforgettable experience. If you want more information on the Camino experience for summer 2024 and other activities you can go to Augustinian Youths facebook/instagram or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ryan D'Amato


The Love Kitchen was inaugurated on Thursday 20th July with a sumptuous dinner generously provided by The Avenue Restaurant and organised by Tony Mejlaq and Prof Victor Grech. The event was attended by 40 special benefactors of the Millennium Chapel who contributed generously for the financing of the Love Kitchen. Special guest of the evening was Prof Richard England who had designed the Millennium Chapel. Prof England donated one of his special Manikata church paintings and book for auctioning during the evening.

An appreciable amount of money was raised for the running costs and expenses of the Love Kitchen that will soon start providing food to homeless and poor people. You can also be part of the Love Kitchen by donating to APS Bank Account no 36932120016 or by Revolut 99829429. Thank you


On Monday 17th July 2023, the brothers and sisters of the Secular Augustinian Fraternity Saint Augustine and Saint Monica met at Dar Santa Monica, in St. Paul’s Bay. They had a moment of prayer, where they shared some reflections on spiritual experiences about the centrality of Christ in Augustinian Spirituality and in their personal lives. Afterwards they had a social moment which consisted of a BBQ which they made in the courtyard of the house.

The Secular Augustinian Fraternity of Saint Augustine and Saint Monica (F.A.S.) is made up of lay Christians. They are called to live the sacrament of baptism in the world from the Augustinian perspective, and how to share their faith and friendship with each other and with others


The Maltese Augustinian Province has just published 'Ir-Ritrattazzjonijiet’, which is a work of Saint Augustine about his writings, translated into Maltese and presented to us by Professor Fr. Salvino Caruana OSA. The book continues with the series of works of Saint Augustine that Fr. Salvino gave us over the years, and it is of great value for the study of the life, the writings, and the legacy left by the great bishop and doctor of the Church. This is actually a piece of literary work of a certain weight which took about two years of hard work.

In the two books of The Retractationes, Saint Augustine gave us a form of another confession, this time not the one about the journey of his life, as with great moral humility he gave us in The Confessions, but the one about his writings. In them, he stated where he could have expressed himself better, where some theological and other thoughts could have been pesented better, or even corrected aspects in his 40 years of writings. So Augustine, with a great sense of humility and with a unique approach in its nature, aged 72, looked back at all the books he had written since the year 383 AD. He had in mind to do the same thing for all his sermons, as well as for all the letters he had written, but eventually he died.

The great value of these two books is known and praised by a number of Christian writers of the first centuries. The books of The Retractationes can be considered as an introduction to all the writings of the same Augustine of Hippo, during the forty years of literary work with which he served the Church and mankind. They are a work that deserves to be put in the first place in the list of the writings of the African Doctor of the Catholic Church.

The Book can be obtained for the price of €18 from Fr. Salvinu, Saint Augustine Priory, Old Bakery street, Valletta (m. 7929 4177); from the Saint Augustine Priory in Gozo; as well as from The Santa Rita Priory, San Ġiljan (m. 79515371 e-mail. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)


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