Team Wales eqUIP student visits Kenya

By Maria Jones

Habari?

The above word in Swahili means is there any news in your life I should know about? Well, there is and I am delighted to share them with you. On the 8th of October, I left the European continent for the very first time in my life and travelled to Nairobi, Kenya to attend the 2024 Commonwealth Sport eqUIP Internship Programme Workshop.

eqUIP is a Commonwealth wide approach to develop youth leaders through internship and employment opportunities, empowering us to make a positive contribution to our communities through sport. Having the opportunity to represent Team Wales as their 2024/25 eqUIP Intern, I will have a year-long placement along with other interns from different commonwealth countries. We will all be part of interactive workshops delivered by the Commonwealth Games Federation, aiming at enabling us to become self-reliant and further develop our leadership skills.

During this first for me trip to the African continent, I was able to network with a diverse group of incredible people from South Africa, Uganda, Northern Ireland, Canda, Cameroon, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Lesotho, Nigeria and of course Kenya. Being exposed to diverse and wide-ranging views not only widened my perspective of life, but also enriched my life with the opportunity to immerse myself into different cultures, a lifechanging experience that I will forever be grateful for. While in Nairobi, I learned some Swahili (as you may have already noticed) but I also attended several impactful workshops, gaining a deeper understanding of Team Wales and how best I can contribute to their community while further developing my leadership and storytelling skills. We were privileged enough to go to a giraffe centre and to Nairobi’s National Park for a Safari. This experience was absolutely incredible as it meant not only witnessing Kenya’s wildlife first hand but also, and more importantly to my opinion, being able to do so with a unique and diverse group of likeminded young people. On the last night of our visit, we had a cultural night dinner, where everybody dressed in traditional attire and gave a small presentation about their countries. The amount of excitement and vibrancy in the room can’t be described; I would do anything to experience it all over again!

I really do consider this experience one of my proudest moments. Not only for being an eqUIP intern, but also for getting to know and work together with such fabulous people from all over the world! There is an African proverb that says to go fast, go alone; to go far, go together. It is this togetherness I tasted in my time in Kenya and can’t wait to taste it more with my fellow eqUIP interns!

Asante! (Swahili word for thank you!)