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!
Arrival in Malawi
After a long and tiring journey, we volunteers from the UK spent our first five days in Malawi, in the capital Lilongwe, where we met our Malawian counterparts and had our in-country orientation. We have bonded well as a group and are looking forward to getting out in the field and starting to make a difference. After our training, we made the five-hour journey up to Mzimba and moved into our host homes.
This week I spoke to a very interesting resident of El Carrizal, Julio. It was exciting news to us that we (InLe Cafe) were not the only new business in the village. His family are in the process of creating a nature-retreat, which hopes to conserve endangered species of Intibuca, while offering guests the chance to see the wonders this area has to offer. It was great to speak to him to discover more about the history and nature of El Carrizal.
As an ICS volunteer, one of the challenges you face is managing your expectations. Many volunteers will tell you that they boarded the plane feeling ready to change the world, and then felt shocked when 10 weeks past by so quickly. I was certainly one of those volunteers.
Summary of how I benefited from ICS
I was a national team leader for the first two cycles of Simukai, in which I successfully lead the first team of 7 volunteers and the second team of 12 volunteers. These cycles ran from January 2014 to June 2014. Our program supplemented the work done at Simukai, covering the Mutare urban and rural districts. I am really grateful to have participated in this program which has built me professionally and also developed my community immensely. During the programme I have gained the following skills:
On 19 and 20 January 2016, I assisted a grandmother to weed and to put fertilizer to her crops which include maize and beans in her field of about half hectare as my Action At Home for 2 days.
I chose to help this grandmother because she is poor, very old and she is staying with a grandchild living with HIV/AIDS. This grandchild is in grade three and is nine years old.
Our Action at Home experience with my volunteer colleague have been blissful and worthwhile. “Terrific Wednesdays” like we called them were one major component of our weekly schedule which we looked forward to every week for the past five weeks.
Our Action At Home (AAH) focused on doing arts and crafts as well as basic computer literacy skills. The objectives were to give the children a break from the normal learning schedule through play, to identify and nurture talents, increase knowledge on computers and boost confidence of the girls.
¡Una vez más listo para recibir ensayo de teatro! Al principio no me imaginaba que el pertenecer a un grupo de teatro iba hacer emocionante y divertid, pero a la vez muy interesante, porque te ayuda a conocerte a ti mismo. Dentro del teatro puedes descubrir cualidades que quizás no sabías que se tenías en ti.
Tuesday 8 March was International Women' Day. In honour of this event we had a learning workshop, discussing gender, inequality and issues that women face, both in the UK and Malawi. We firstly spoke of inspirational women and we had a huge range of women, from politicians to athletes and scientists. I personally chose my grandmother, Josephine Speltz. She's always been a strong influence in my life and even at 96 she continues to inspire me with her tenacity and spirit despite the challenges that almost being a century has on the body and mind.
In the summer of 2015, I completed a 10-week placement in Santa Marta, El Salvador with ADES and Progressio ICS. The hardest part of the whole experience was leaving the community and all the incredible people I had met during my time there. I made a promise to come back. The ICS experience really made an impact on the return to the UK and I decided that the time was right to quit my job and change my career path to one related to international development. Before this, it was time to fulfil that promise and return to Santa Marta.
