ICS Malawi

When I first heard of Progressio ICS I thought it might not be very useful but I proved myself wrong. When you talk of volunteering, it is not about money. I find the programme very important in as far as personal experience is concerned. Different people have had different first impressions of Progressio ICS and here I will talk about the first impressions of the UK volunteers and also of the in-country volunteers. When it comes to working with someone whose culture is different from yours (and only our culture is different because we all have the same goals), it is sometimes a challenge.

Team Zeneko!!

Time and punctuality in Malawi is not a respected concept, but my first week overseas has definitely flown by!

2015 marks a pivotal year for international development. Today (25th September) the United Nations (UN) launched a three-day Sustainable Development Summit at the UN headquarters in New York, where the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be announced. The 17 SDGs are integrated, indivisible and will build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They place a focus on the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, and will aim to realise human rights for all and achieve gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls.

Travelling across the world to Africa as a volunteer is by far the most empowering thing that I have ever done. I believe it has opened up many doors far beyond the realms of my life goals. It was my first time travelling alone, as in, without family or close friends. I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t scared about what I was getting myself into. However, the fellow volunteers have become good friends who I can rely on like family; this has made my stay very comfortable and stress free. 

On 12 August, International Youth Day, Team Chibavi - volunteering with local partner organisation - Centre for Girls and Interaction (CEGI) - started a march from Mzuzu town to the Chibavi community ground to spread our message of HIV & AIDS prevention, ending early marriage and sexual reproductive health. 

On the day that Katie-Mae (my soon-to-be roomie for the next nine weeks) and I first arrived in Rumphi, Malawi, we were feeling everything you might expect: apprehensive, excited and also slightly nervous to meet our host family for the first time. We knew absolutely nothing about them except for their surname. However, any anxieties we had were soon calmed by a warm greeting from our host ‘amama’ -our adada, Mr Luhanga was away for work.

It’s been a very eventful two weeks, the highlight of it all I would say is when we did a collaboration day with the other ICS team working with the Centre for Girls and Interaction (CEGI) during International Youth Day on 12 of August. It started off with just the volunteers but quickly grew crowds many of them children. We organised a march through the streets from near the Toviranne office to a local football pitch near the CEGI offices. There we had our own stall, set up along stalls CEGI stalls, and a HIV Testing and Counselling clinic.

One of the most rewarding and inspiring experiences of the ICS placement is living with a local host family. However, at our in country orientation it was the part we were all the most nervous about, flying half way round the world to live with people we had never met before was a seriously daunting prospect. A few weeks in we are all very close to our host families, with many of us being referred to as their sons and daughters! We decided to all write about our varied experiences to reassure future volunteers’ about living in a host home.

Team Mapiri works as a family. It is nice and interesting for a group of eighteen people working without fighting. This shows that Team Mapiri, which has UK and national volunteers, is a cooperative and a hard working team to the community. 

On 24 July the team went to monitor goat kraals (enclosures) at Mthuzi village. The community was so happy to see the team to work together in their community, advising on how to ensure the welfare of the goats, which our partner organisation, the Small Producer’s Development and Transporters Association (SPRODETA), has provided them.  

As the world celebrated International Youth Day on 12 August, all roads led to Mzuzu for a number of Progressio ICS Alumni, who joined their Lattitude counterparts, for the Malawi ICS Alumni Conference, organised by Lattitude Malawi and held in Mzuzu on August 15.