ICS blog

During one of the nights at our in-country training in Lilongwe, I remember being quite annoyed. Once I tell you the reason, you're going to think "urgh, what a brat". To be honest, looking back at the moment retrospectively, I was being a little madam. The reason behind my annoyance was that some of our fellow Malawian volunteers were playing a really loud game, which required them to sing and bounce a ball. They were playing this right outside of my room. I was annoyed because I felt they were disturbing my silence as I was desperately trying to get connected to the internet.

For my action at home, I organised an event which I called volunteering day. The aim of the event was to raise awareness among young people and the community on the importance of taking part in different volunteer activities.

So that’s it. After a whirlwind three months, I have completed my Progressio ICS placement in Malawi. This sadly means that I have been returned back to the normality of the UK for just over a month now. For those who haven’t been to Malawi this means being unable to buy boiled eggs, doughnuts and samosas from the market stalls and a distinct lack of nsima! I can now class myself as a ‘returned volunteer’ or alumni, but here’s eight things I have learnt:

1) ‘This one time in Malawi…’

Before coming to Nicaragua I thought Progressio’s ICS programme largely consisted of manual labour. My idea was that we would be sent out to different communities to build relationships and for the locals to dictate to us where they need help most. In some respects, this is the case; we will be building water filters and eco-stoves, and rather than the people themselves directing our work, it is their representative charity (ASOMUPRO) who dictate our agenda. However, a large amount of our time is spent in classroom type situations away from physical construction.

I have now been living in Parcila for the past two weeks. In such a short space of time, I have already learned of the legacy climate change has left this community.

Before I came to Nicaragua, I was certainly not an environmental activist. Don’t get me wrong, I was never a serial crude-oil-consuming litterbug either, but I would admit to being blissfully naïve concerning my personal impact on the environment. 

After a week of ice-breakers, Spanish lessons, and 35-degree heat in San Salvador, we were ready to make it over to Santa Catarina Masahuat, our home for the next 11 weeks. It’s about a two-hour drive west of the capital up in the mountains. An overturned truck on the highway and one ill passenger meant we were delayed a couple of hours, so by the time we arrived in the community it was already dark. Santa Catarina Masahuat is a small town made up of 12 neighbourhoods. All of our host families are within walking distance from one another right in the centre.

Last Thursday, 21 April, we headed out for our first visit to the communities in Mzimba district, whose youth clubs had expressed an interest in working with us. These villages are called Chasato, Kazomba, Musegede and Champhira. The communities range from 5km away from Mzimba town in the case of Chasato and Kazomba, to Champhira, which is 50km away.

Honduras week two and certain sights, faces and routines are becoming more familiar to us UK volunteers. Time rolls on and we’re beginning to become more accustomed to the abundance of front-room-come-convenience-stores, which populate every street and the warmly welcomed four o'clock breeze. 

Our first week in Nicaragua has almost come to an end and tomorrow we will be travelling to our communities and our new homes for the next 11 weeks. 

We arrived in Malawi, welcomed by the blisteringly hot, yet somewhat, vitalising African sun. Frantically we shuffled around Lilongwe Airport trying to exchange British Pounds to Malawian Kwacha, before being quickly moved into a compact Toyota bus and driven towards our lodge, where we would receive the in-country training.