Maria Kinson: When Caregiving Becomes a Lifelong Calling | Feature in FAVSTYLE Magazine

Some stories are born from ambition. Others are shaped by love, sacrifice and the quiet strength of caring for another human being.

For Maria Kinson (Founder of CarersPlus Asia & President of PSPS), caregiving is deeply personal. Her journey was shaped by two very different lives she encountered through years of caring for others, experiences that would eventually inspire her to create a platform dedicated to giving caregivers and families a voice.

Maria recently shared two photographs that represent powerful chapters of her life.

In one, a man sits in a wheelchair. He was her late husband.

For more than six years, illness left him unable to open his eyes, move his body or speak. Yet, for Maria, his condition never changed the fundamental truth that he remained her husband, her family and someone deeply loved.

Every year, they continued to celebrate his birthday.

Because love, she reflected, does not disappear simply because illness enters a family's life.

The second photograph takes Maria much further back in time, to her days providing nursing services in the Klang Valley. At the time, the District Officer of Penampang approached her to help care for families living in extreme poverty.

One of those individuals was a man who could neither walk nor speak. His family had constructed a simple bamboo cart with wheels so they could move him around the house, including for bathing and toileting.

For most of his life, a small corner of that modest home had been his entire world.

Maria does not know whether he is still alive today. But she has never forgotten him.

These two men, separated by circumstances yet connected through Maria's caregiving journey, became among the many faces that shaped her understanding of compassion, dignity and responsibility.

Even years later, remembering them still brings tears to her eyes.

From Personal Experience to Purpose

Maria's experiences ultimately led her to a profound realisation: caregivers, families and those living with profound challenges often carry stories that remain unseen and unheard.

She believed there needed to be a platform where those stories could be shared, where caregivers could speak openly, and where the wider community could better understand the realities behind caregiving.

That vision became VIVA! Carefest 2026.

More than an event, the initiative represents Maria's desire to create a space for recognition, connection and community support.

It is a call to acknowledge the people who dedicate themselves to caring for others, whether they are family members, professional caregivers, nurses or quiet everyday heroes whose contributions rarely make headlines.

A Community That Cares

Through VIVA! Carefest 2026, Maria hopes to bring the community together to recognise those who care for others and to encourage greater appreciation and support for caregivers.

Her message is simple yet profound:

Caregiving is not merely a responsibility. It is an expression of humanity.

Behind every caregiver is a story. Behind every person receiving care is a family, a history and a human life deserving of dignity.

For Maria Kinson, those stories are not forgotten.

They are the reason she continues to speak, to reach out and to build a platform where caregivers can finally be seen, heard, valued and celebrated.

VIVA! Carefest 2026 is, in many ways, the continuation of a journey that began with care and was transformed by love.