I could only imagine what life would be like working as a volunteer. I was not puzzled with the word volunteer, but before ICS I didn’t know much about volunteering because I was only a business man with a shop and with knowledge of my community. Although I was inexperienced, I was keen to do the work and to focus on my personal development.
First week: Adaptation week
“Chilengedwe” is a Chichewa (Malawi’s national language) word that means "Nature", "Chilengiwa" in Tumbuka.
Oxford dictionary defines nature as, “phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.”
Ah Halloween, one of the biggest, secular events of the year - second only to Christmas. When girls and boys, men and women, adorn themselves in spooky, controversial and comedic costumed attire to acquire candy from strangers and to drink the 31 October away at themed parties and functions.
As someone who is quite introverted, flying to Malawi and interacting with people from such a different culture to our English ways was always going to be a challenge of mine. When socialising within the UK, I convey an air of confidence about myself in an attempt to mask the awkward, self-doubting and insecure notches of my character. "What a stupid thing to say, that wasn't funny in the slightest", I'd think to myself; digging away at whatever seed of self-assurance I had planted and nurtured within my psyche.
All the planning and preparation in the world could not have prepared us for our experience at Mpamba School.
We decked ourselves out in our official Progressio ICS t-shirts or our bright green YONECO chitenjes. We looked and felt the part. Ready to go with our notes, posters and leaflets we felt excited and raring to impart some knowledge on our, seemingly simple, topic "Life Goals".
Following the orientation and briefing on our roles in line with the partner organisation’s targets, we had expectations and looked forward to getting started.
My experience of a Malawian wedding was short but most definitely rich in culture. The wedding preparations began on the Friday, with twenty members of my host mum's family arriving to stay the night, which meant a very busy household. Unfortunately, just as they arrived, the power in the neighbourhood went out. This is something that isn't uncommon in the area, so everyone was well equipped with candles and torches to continue the evening as normal as possible.
“Hello guys, listen, we are ICS volunteers who work with YONECO”. That was spoken by the one of volunteers. The noise could be heard among the students during our first secondary school session in the Nkhata Bay district. Before I became a volunteer, I had a lot of thoughts and expectations on how I will perform activities in different areas. It really is true that what was hard to bear is sweet to remember.
“Hello guys, listen, we are ICS volunteers who work with YONECO”. That was spoken by the one of volunteers. The noise could be heard among the students during our first secondary school session in the Nkhata Bay district. Before I became a volunteer, I had a lot of thoughts and expectations on how I will perform activities in different areas. It really is true that what was hard to bear is sweet to remember.
16 October is World Food Day and this year’s theme is extremely relevant to Malawi - ‘Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.’ The population of Malawi is growing rapidly and with that there is growing rates of food consumption. On my placement (July to September 2016) we had a climate change training that taught us that Malawi, which has a population of almost 18 million as of 2016, is expected to have a population of 40 million by 2050.
