Perth teacher Leith travelled to Malawi as a first-time volunteer with The Sparkle Foundation and came home changed. Read her story.

For over ten years, The Payback Time Trust has supported The Sparkle Foundation, a relationship first led by Stuart Barcock’s late father, Peter, alongside his stepmother, Kathy, who were early believers in Sparkle’s vision. While Stuart had long been aware of and connected to Sparkle through this relationship, his involvement deepened significantly after becoming a Trustee in early 2023. Since then, his connection to the charity has been more direct and engaged, shaped through ongoing conversations, updates, and a growing understanding of our work. This year, that connection took on a different form. Stuart travelled to Malawi this past March to experience our work in person. Not as an observer from afar, but as someone stepping directly into the environments, communities, and programmes his family family had supported for so long. This is the story of Stuart's journey with purpose. What I Thought I Knew Having supported The Sparkle Foundation for more than a decade, the decision to visit Malawi felt both natural and necessary. From the perspective of The Payback Time Trust, it was important that one of us saw the work first-hand, to understand not only what is being delivered but how it comes together on the ground. Reports and conversations provide insight, but they inevitably leave gaps. Being there, physically present, offers a different level of clarity . There was also a personal dimension to the trip. The trust itself was founded by my [late] father and stepmother, who had been early supporters of The Sparkle Foundation and a strong believers in [founder] Sarah’s vision. Continuing that connection is something I take seriously, and this visit felt like an extension of that responsibility, as well as a way of honouring what they had helped to start.