Show us an activity you enjoy doing. Tell us how you think it contributes to your personal and professional development

1. Question I:
An activity I enjoy doing and how it contributes
to my personal and professional development

2. I’ve grown up in a family where my parents apparently
seemed to care more for the others than for their own
daughters; indeed, we have always hosted people at our
place for different reasons: little girls from Belarus,
students coming from all over the world to study in Italy,
unemployed families from foreign countries.

3. Growing up, I’ve developed other interests, apparently in contrast
with my family’s lifestyle: I have always been keen on fashion
events and luxury brands and I couldn’t live without travelling
and visiting new countries.

5. However, the seeds had been planted and despite
adolescence years struggling to gain independence
and shape my own personality....

6. I finally found myself in a group of clever, smart young
friends with whom I shared interests and a vision of
the world which was not that different from my
family’s

7. I was not yet 18( I had just come of age, in the summer of my 4th
year of Lyceum) when I joined a team of incredible doctors who
had founded a non-profit organisation, Maisha Marefu Onlus, to
finance projects to promote the development of the most
depressed areas of Africa.

8. I had the chance to be hosted by an incredible woman who
collaborated with Maisha, Kuki Gallman, the famous Venitian
writer who gave up her comfortable and sophisticated life to live
in Kenya, working to promote ecological conservation protecting
endangered species (such as elephants and cheetahs) and
humanitarian projects.

9. but what really struck me most was the method, the
problem solving approach to carry out projects
I was literally overwhelmed by her strong, decided,
authoritative and yet so deeply compassionate
personality

10. It was not a mere charity style donation to temporarily solve
problems; it was the managerial concept to create an
organisation which would promote projects tailored on native
people

11. Since then I have personally followed numerous projects: our
efforts have allowed the creation of First Aid medical centres
and pre-school orphanages, with the main aim of improving
the local education system, healthcare and childhood support.

12. I have taken part in 5 missions in Kenya and I’m
personally involved in the organisation of numerous and
renowned fundraising events to promote and financially
support our projects and I’m constantly in contact with the
local representatives

13. thousands of people are more or less directly involved in the
development of the projects and the life in that remote area of
Kenya has positively changed allowing people in the villages to
have a decent medical operating unit

14. vocational schools for boys and girls, an efficient orphanage,
although leaving unaltered the cultural and social features of
the area.

15. Amnesty International is another environment which has
helped me hone my personal and professional development:
I’m a member of group 146 Arese (Milan) and have been
engaged for years in campaigns to prevent and fight grave
abuses of civil rights and to raise awareness about human
rights.

16. In particular, we organise fundraising events and petitions
mainly working with primary and secondary schools planning
workshops and theme performances. In 2016 I took part in the
Italian General Assembly in Rome attending workshops about
Amnesty’s latest campaigns to discuss and vote motions about
the guidelines of the NGO.

17. I definitely believe that effectively working for these
organisations has helped me create strong relationships and
has taught me to work in a team, has strengthened my
analytical thinking and resilience in solving complex
problems, has encouraged my enthusiasm and energy and
my strong determination in matching my acquaintances in
the diplomatic field and knowledge in international
institutions with more managerial, financial and technical
skills.