MY STORY

My name is Italo Malan, I was born in Turin and lived in Venice for forty years.

My passion for travels lead me to visit many countries, but it is in Africa that my big adventure began.

In 2004, during a holiday in Malindi, Kenya, I met Tony: he worked as a night guard (askari) in the hotel where I was staying. He told me about his family, already numerous: his wife Esther and five young children. They lived in extreme poverty, like many other families, near Watamu, a village between Malindi and Mombasa.

He took me to know them: and a friendship was born that would change my life for ever.

Since the beginning I made up my mind to help them as much as I could, especially in growing children: after the first five there came another one, but the young mother died shortly after giving birth to the baby, leaving the family orphaned, desperate and in great economic difficulty.

The strong bond that arose with the father, the grief of the children for the loss of their mother and the desire to really improve their living conditions conjured in turning my passion into a mission.

my trips have become one big journey of solidarity

I went regularly to Africa twice a year since, stayed at least a couple of months every time, and totally devoted myself to them and to the local community, dealing with the immediate needs (food, clothing, medical care) and planning their future (education, work).

This is how they became my family: I live with them and for them, to see them grow up and smile, to provide them with adequate food and housing, and to get them to study and build themselves a future.

In 2012 the family grew even larger: we welcomed a couple of twins who were orphaned by a car accident involving their parents, that the magistrate of Malindi put under my protection and tutorage before the state of Kenya.