ICS Malawi

The drive into Nkhata Bay and discoveries hereafter:

My first sights of Africa were exactly as I had seen in the photos, yet that only made the experience more surreal. Winding dirt roads and women shrouded in vibrancy, balancing baskets or buckets on their heads. Children topless and running to wave at us or men walking along the dust path, boxed into suits in the blistering sun. The tarmac had crumbled at the edges, immediately met by the earth. No paths, just road - the cusp between bitten and irregular - an obstacle for the bikes forced to the edges. 

“Sundays are my favourite”, my host sister, Hlazeya, replied when I asked her what her favourite day was; and despite only having the pleasure of being in Rumphi for one Sunday so far, I can see why. Although I don’t think it would qualify as the best day of the week for most back in the UK. 

Dear people sat in the rain, it's hot here.

We've had a busy week meeting new friends, learning the language, understanding the Malawian culture and sweating! Mums - you'll be pleased to know we are all still in one piece so stop panicking! Dads - none of us are married yet, so no dowry cows coming your way... sorry!

On 21 January, we went to Nthuzi, in Mbongondo, with the aim of training people on how to run a business and how they can save money through the Village Bank. We met the group Village Headman of Nthuzi with his community and they welcomed us with joy and a spirit of learning more. They had an interest in knowing how they can run their business and how they can save their money through the bank system, because they have never had this opportunity before.

After almost two weeks of living and working in Malawi as part of Team Masomphenya, we are busy settling into life in Nkhata Bay. However, it is difficult to ignore the inevitable cultural differences between two contrasting societies and even within our own team members, between national and UK volunteers. Of course this is all part of fitting in with the locals: making the embarrassing faux-pas is all part of the fun. 

International Citizen Service (ICS) was such an important experience for me personally, and I don’t think that I truly realise how much I took away from it and how much of an impression it had on me and on my perspective on my own life and the lives of others. It was much more that simply filling time between graduating university and entering myself into the world of work.

Six years ago, at the age of sixteen, I was comfortably living at home with my older sister and two younger brothers. I was fortunate enough to not only have loving parents that supported me financially but who also guided me through my teenage years. Having just started my GCSE’s, I was doing very well at school with the prospect of going to college to further my education. I had a trouble-free life with my main concerns revolving around my friends and boyfriend, that when looking back, felt like serious issues but in actual fact were trivial teenage problems. 

“I had a long period chatting with the female students, just the week before you came, on how they can avoid early pregnancies but I didn’t say much because I am their teacher and was shy to say some of the words directly as you people just did”, said Jean Nyirenda.

We have been in Rumphi for a long time now and have absolutely loved our work here, we have been embraced by the local people who have all been happy to see us volunteering in the rural communities in the Mzimba district where we work. Within the communities we have engaged in a variety of activities, all with the aim of helping the agricultural work, which many local people rely on for a sustainable income.

The hot, dusty and windy town of Rumphi is located in the Northern Region of Malawi, to the south of the Nyika National Park and an hour north of Mzuzu. It is a small town, hemmed in on most sides by rocky mountains, covered in rural, sparsely populated villages, with one main road to connect the town and its people. To pass into the District of Rumphi you pass through a mountain valley and over a river with spectacularly large boulders.