ICS blog

For the majority of our stay in Liwonde, we (Beckie, Sammy and Aimee) have been working at the CBCC at Kwatukumbuchire. CBCC stands for Community Based Child Care – essentially a nursery at the centre from 8-11am Monday to Friday.

All the parents are members of Kwatukumbuchire and run the Village Savings & Loans scheme on Wednesdays. The parents pay 200 Malawian kwacha a month, but some parents are unable to which is a big problem for the centre, as this money only pays for milk for the children.

During the past two weeks, Danny and I have been teaching at the Adult Education Initiative (AEI). Although we have been the teachers, it has been a definite learning curve, opening our eyes to the education system in Malawi and the role programmes like the AEI play in filling gaps.
 
Teresa Duwesi is a student in Standard 3. She’s 34, a mother of three and works as a farmer. Along with balancing childcare and work she finds time to walk to Kwatukumbuchire where she is taught English, Maths and Chichewa between 2.00pm and 4.30pm.

We have been giving presentations to youth groups over the past three weeks on HIV prevention, transmission and stigma. Our first was at Simathero Youth Club, Vhsitola village.

We were accompanied by Youth Impact, an organisation in Liwonde which carries out human rights, environmental and HIV/AIDS projects led by young people for young people. The team are really friendly and helpful - reviewing our presentation before the meeting and translating our evaluation forms to Chichewa.

The Village Savings and Loans Group – Kwatukumbuchire’s community bank – exists to empower people financially to take charge of their lives. Members are able to buy shares priced at 100 Malawian kwacha (MK) for 1 and borrow money which has to be repaid at 20% interest. After 6 months, the money is distributed amongst the members in proportion to the amount of shares bought. Those who have invested more, receive a larger return. Records are kept in each member’s share books.

Training has ended and we are in Liwonde ready to start working! Arriving on Saturday 15th October was a relief after a 6 hour long bumpy drive - the town is rich in wildlife (the Shire River, which runs through Liwonde, being the home to many hippos and crocodiles) but it is much hotter than Lilongwe with temperatures hitting 30C and over daily. Our accommodation is near the market – just a 3 minute walk from our lodge along with various shops and pubs and bars, giving us a real chance to interact with locals, put our language skills and cultural knowledge into practice.

For the last 7 weeks we have been living and working in El Salvador and realised that a major part of the lifestyle is made up of the food that people eat and sell, and the music that people listen to.

Food

The traditional dish of El Salvador is the Pupusa, which can be found everywhere, being made in homes and sold in cafes, restaurants, by street vendors and in the Pupusarias.

Combine women in a kitchen, a strong dose of passion and the ability to organise, and a Peruvian Soup Kitchen is born.

A soup kitchen, commonly known as ‘Comedor’ in Peru, is a community organisation that provides food for thousands of people living in poverty in shantytowns like Villa El Salvador. Taking advantage of buying in bulk, this initiative, which is almost exclusively run by women, provides a platform where the poorest families come together to produce evening meals, and feed around seven percent of Lima’s population.

Four weeks into our placements, and there seems to be no absence of weird, wonderful and first time experiences in Villa El Salvador. 

Parque Huascar

Amidst the arid landscapes of the coast is Parque Huascar, the current placement of myself, Hussein and Stephen. The ecological park is home to a diverse zoo, lagoon, swimming pool and several species of wild birds. It received the World Leadership Award in 2006 in London for its contribution to the environment and recuperating abandoned areas by planting trees. 

We arrived at our new home after a short bus trip from Barranco. Instantly you can tell the difference from the well developed capital city of Lima; Villa El Salvador is still a place that is developing. With the dusty streets and hoards of dogs that roam around, it comes as no surprise that Villa El Salvador is a young district that is built in the middle of a desert.

In fact it's one of the biggest squatter settlements in the world, a largely self organised area in which the people worked together to make the district what it is today.