One of the main things I worried about when going away for three months was the expected lack of sports and fitness I’d be involved in. In my head, I planned to go on morning runs before work but this was simply too unrealistic for someone who struggles to get out of bed thirty minutes before they’re meant to leave. This meant the first couple of weeks I was left doing little.
Growing up in a developing country, Malawi, and to a clan where education is perceived to be something for boys and not girls, is challenging. Girls are considered to be assets where by when a girl gets married, her parents get lobola (cash or cows) as a token of appreciation for raising a girl child. This is no different to the case in my village such that no woman in my village ever attained higher education, like university education. I wanted to change my story, that a girl child can attain any goal if given an opportunity.
“What do I have to lose?”, I say to myself as I apply to a programme that I came across by luck. Little did I know that six months later, I’d be on a flight to Malawi (lovely place by the way, you should definitely go) to spend 10 weeks as a volunteer under the International Citizen Service programme for Progressio. 10 weeks of hard work, good times, and an unforgettable experience… Decent.
My ICS journey started with me browsing the internet looking for opportunities to volunteer abroad. I had little money and luckily found ICS, which is a fully-funded government scheme to volunteer abroad. I applied and I was asked to come along to a selection day. Looking back on the selection day, if there was one thing I wish I could tell myself, it would be to be more relaxed. I was only 18 at the time and hadn’t experienced many interviews, so I was overly nervous, but the Progressio staff were really comforting.
Let me first begin by clarifying that my whole experience in Malawi was memorable, however, there were particular moments that really stood out in my mind and will do so for the remainder of my life.
In Malawi, I worked for a HIV & AIDS organisation called Tovwirane. The charity is based in the northern district of Malawi, in Mzuzu. Our target audience were in and out of school youths and bicycle taxi operators.
1. The cockroach attack
It’s been said that the first two weeks are the hardest for adjustment. Feeling a degree of normality in a country where the culture is so dissimilar to ours could be labelled a task. Relax, you’re here for three months, and relax some more because you most definitely won’t regret travelling here. Malawians have peaceful attributes, living life as it comes. This being said, the first evening I sat down with my host family they explained to me how much Malawians have adopted British norms and values - this is something I have observed and found uplifting through the weeks.
After almost three weeks of working with Tovwirane HIV and AIDS organisation in Mzuzu, an update on our work is definitely due!
The main focus of Tovwirane is to engage with the community in order to increase knowledge and understanding of the HIV pandemic, and ultimately reduce the number of new infections.
It is so interesting to see how our Masomphenya team, based in Nkhata Bay, is working hand-in-hand sharing ideas on culture, dressing, food, housing and language. Though the team is performing well together there are some challenges, which the volunteers are facing.
As part of the International Citizen Service (ICS) programme in Malawi, each team is given the opportunity to design and implement their own ‘Special Project’. This is a brilliant opportunity to identify an issue within the community, and improvise a means of tackling it during your placement. At the Centre for Girls and Interaction (CEGI - our partner organisation), our team leaders encouraged the team to start thinking about our Special Project very early on. This was a great idea, because it allowed us to fully brainstorm, research, design and implement the whole project.
Misconceptions/misinformation about HIV and AIDS treatment and scenarios for the HIV virus and the disease is one of the major setbacks in the fight against the pandemic. Some bicycle taxi operators in Mzuzu are still misinformed. There is fear of the unknown in some bicycle taxi operators, as they say if you feel like you have contracted the HIV virus you can start taking ARVs instantly without going for HIV testing and counselling (HTC). Can a person start taking anti-retroviral drugs before it has been confirmed they are HIV+? That is the question one would ask.
