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How harmful social norms and poverty exacerbate the issue of violence against women in Malawi

Thomas Msiska, Malawi Country Representative for Progressio, explains how harmful social norms and poverty exacerbate the issue of violence against women in Malawi. 

Malawi: How I managed to eat vegan in Malawi

When I first discovered that I had been accepted to go on an ICS volunteer placement in Malawi, I was obviously extremely excited and grateful to be given such an amazing opportunity. However, a big part of me was getting increasingly nervous as to how I would be able to manage to maintain my vegan diet once in Malawi. 

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Malawi: Present answers

Sparing time to volunteer with local organisation Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) is the best thing one may think in life. This could help bring answers to some of the questions we usually have.

Different organisations work in the communities where we come from, but it becomes very difficult to understand the impact of the work they are doing to Malawian livelihoods. Now YONECO, in accordance with Progressio ICS, has got answers to these questions and worries. 

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Malawi: My first work experience

I first found out about this volunteer opportunity at the beginning of August when my parents came home with an application form that I filled out and sent off to YONECO (Youth Net and Counselling). After submitting my application, I began to worry and was afraid of what the role will be like, how I could cope with other volunteers?... So, I decided to research other previous volunteer stories as well as additional information regarding the charity itself.

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Malawi: Being Ginger in Malawi

At pre-departure training, we had to make a list of hopes and fears from our placement. In all honesty, my biggest fears predominantly included falling ill and getting extremely sunburnt. Being ginger, I burn almost everywhere, including on a rainy day at Wimbledon, let alone in an African country in the peak of dry season. When we were arranged into our respective teams at the training, it was clear that most the gingers going to Malawi ended up placed in my group, with nearly half of us (Oli, Julia and I) having ginger, or strawberry blonde, hair.

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Malawi: Team bonding

As we learnt in physics, two positive electrical charges repel each other and that is kind of how it started out like in the first week of our placement. This was evidenced by the gap that existed when it came to sitting style in the office and minibus. National volunteers were separating themselves from the UK volunteers.

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Malawi: Lost in translation

I was born and raised in the City of Salford, which is situated in Greater Manchester so, as you can probably imagine, I have quite a strong Manchester accent. I knew that this was likely to be an issue when coming to Malawi, especially as I have met people from other parts of England that have struggled to understand my northern accent. However, my accent turned out to pose more problems for me than I had initially considered. 

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