Joseph
Cremona and Julian Mamo, two canoeists from the Malta Canoe Federation
shattered the existing record for a round Malta attempt by
single kayak last Wednesday. The two canoeists circled Malta in their
kayaks in an overall time of 8 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds, deducting more
than 2 and a half hours from the previous record set in 2001.
The attempt
was made in an effort to raise funds to help Maria Borg overcome the challenges
she faces when communicating. Maria is an intelligent 19 year old young woman
who suffers from cerebral palsy and is thus unable to walk, speak and make use
of her hands. Notwithstanding, Maria has
proven herself intellectually over the years by passing various exams, including
5 Matsec ‘O’ level examinations.
However, a
new wheelchair and modern technology could help Maria become more independent
and utter her first words. Indeed, render her fully ‘vocal’ by means of a
dedicated speech generating device accompanied by an eye tracking device.
The entire set-up would cost around 28,000 Euros.
So far,
over 5000 Euros have been collected in this campaign with the news of the
imminent attempt and it is hoped that the remainder will be collected to help
raise the quality of life of Maria, a deserving youngster, with the publication
of its success.
You
can help by sending a donation to: HSBC Bank
account “Canoeing for Maria” no. 042071415050 or Bank
of Valletta account
“Canoeing for Maria” no. 40016499733.
The
Malta Institute of Management will also be contributing towards this campaign
and is generously offering training vouchers against the amount donated. This
opportunity is on a first come first served basis, up to a maximum of Euro 7000
(seven thousand) of vouchers in aggregate.Terms and conditions
apply in using the training vouchers. Offer valid up to 15th August 2008.
