FRIENDS IN NAIROBI

Hello, I’m Raquel! And I’m Miriam!In 2019, we met on the very first day of our International Relations degree at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, and since then, our paths have always been intertwined.

Our curiosity to understand the world and our desire to one day work on projects with social impact brought us together throughout the four years of study. Between classroom debates and group projects, we discovered that we shared not only a friendship, but also a calling: dedicating our professional lives to cooperation.

After university, we decided to continue our education and, without planning it, ended up enrolling together in the Master’s in International Development Cooperation at Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. That year helped us ground many concepts that had previously sounded abstract: sustainable development, humanitarian aid, gender perspective, human rights… But it also made us both feel the need to step outside the classroom and see how all of that translated into practice.

Raquel and Miriam

It was in one of our Master’s classes that we first came across Maisha. During the Development Economics module, we were given the chance to work in groups on projects with real-world applications for real organizations—and Maisha was among them. Although our group wasn’t assigned to the project that Rocío, the director, presented, we were deeply interested in her work. This led us to explore, on our own, the possibility of collaborating with the Foundation and combining our intention to work in the field with an organization whose mission had resonated so strongly with us.

That’s how the idea of coming to Maisha Foundation in Nairobi was born. We chose it because it is a local organization with a very clear focus on education, rights, and the empowerment of young pregnant women in vulnerable situations. Their work inspired us, and we saw it as a place where we could truly learn firsthand while contributing the knowledge we had acquired.

Working side by side with the team and experiencing cooperation in everyday life—not just in theory. Without even realizing it, we had both made the same decision: to come here, and once again, our paths converged.

Our eagerness didn’t mean the decision was easy. It’s always hard to leave behind your family and your comfort zone, but coming with a friend made taking the leap easier: sharing fears, expectations, and challenges. In the end, supporting each other made it much easier to embrace the experience.

Since the moment we arrived, Maisha welcomed us as if we were part of the family. Daily life here is full of contrasts: workshops with young mothers, educational activities, moments of listening, and accompaniment.

Within the Foundation, we are taking part in several programs: one in Sustainability, the other in Reception, and both of us in Cross-Cutting Areas of Cooperation and in Human Rights. Every day here is special. And living it together makes it even more unique. Doing a volunteer program with a friend means much more than sharing a house or plans. It’s having someone to reflect with at the end of the day, someone who helps you put into words what you’re feeling, and who reminds you why you’re here when exhaustion or frustration weighs in. We support each other on the most intense days, share what we observe from different perspectives, and lift each other up when something feels overwhelming.

But we’ve also realized that not everything is the same for both of us: each of us is learning different things and experiencing this journey in a personal way.

Sharing this experience allows us to contrast perspectives: what one doesn’t see, the other points out; what one doubts, the other reinforces. And that helps us better understand what it means to work in cooperation, especially in the field. We are certain that we will take many things with us from this experience, but above all, we know that this first time working in the field will mark us forever—both personally and professionally.

Living it together gives it an added value. Because in the end, when we look back on Maisha, we won’t just talk about what we learned in cooperation, but also about how we shared it as friends.

Asante sana, Maisha 🧡