Want a deeper insight into what an ICS placement looks like? Read the amazing blogs written by our past and present volunteers. Enjoy the journey!
Every day we sit to eat amazing lunches with our national volunteers in a bakery called La Esperanza. It was created and is run by the women’s association we came here to support: Adescom FM.
Most days we support them in other ways - by spending most of our money on their delicious cakes!!
"I have truly seen a full commitment by this government to strengthen relationships with Central America and El Salvador," Ambassador Werner Romero said, adding "I think this is an honest commitment."
“Today i attended a workshop on human rights and found myself sitting there mentally noting how many human rights femicide is violating; the right to life, the right to motherhood, the right to equality, the right to be heard,”.
When I found out that we would be building organic vegetable gardens in the rural community of La Bendicion de Dios in the westernmost district of El Salvador, to be honest the word ‘organic’ didn’t really jump out. I assumed that the main aim of our project was to build a sustainable source of varied nutrition for the people in the community, and most of all for women of ADESCOMFM, the womens’ organisation with whom we are working.
Last week we spent 3 days living in Milie village in the hope of further deepening our understanding of Malawian life. Five weeks into our placement we had had many fantastic experiences working with the communities around Salima. However in order to understand and integrate with those communities even more we felt that it was necessary to go one step further than this and actually live with those communities. After proposing this to Environment Africa and the in country Progressio staff, we got the go ahead!
Alongside our work making gardens (which are now all complete) and teaching English and Exercise classes, the group has also run Cooking Workshops.
Hi my name is Mphatso, I’m a local ICS volunteer, and I live in Salima. Salima is a district in Malawi, were the majority of people live in villages and rely on small scale farming to support their families. The people within Salima really depend on irrigation farming to help secure them food throughout the year.
Recently we have been learning more about one of the women’s organisations that IMU (one of Progressio's partner organisations) helps called Adescom FM. They are a small association that was established in March 2002. Their aim is to empower the women in the municipality of El Refugio and give them a voice. It provides its associates with the opportunity of paid work, education about knowing and defending their rights and training in skills such as sewing and tailoring. The heart of this organisation is the Panaderia La Esperanza.
Our placement is swiftly reaching its conclusion and yet I feel as though we have so much we still need to do! With only having a couple of weeks to go it has meant looking back and evaluating our progress so far. We have had the opportunity to work on varied projects from compost manure and HIV/AIDS management to the installation of water pumps. Currently our focus is with one particular community by the name of Ekaiweni where we hope to help build eco-toilets.
