ICS blog

Five weeks ago, when I arrived in El Salvador, I never imagined feeling such a connection to a place as I do now. I have been lucky enough to travel to many beautiful places in the world and privileged to have met who I did along the way. But something here is different, and it stretches far beyond the postcard scenery. 

The week commencing on the 18 May started with high spirits as we had the challenge to build a recycling centre for the community of La Sabanita, so that they could make better use of their rubbish and reduce contamination.

Recycling means classifying and separating into different containers in order to give it another purpose rather than just disposing of it. Moreover, rubbish not only gives the community a bad aspect, but it also causes contamination, illnesses, a bad smell and attracts animals. Recycling can also benefit the community financially through the sale of rubbish.

Nicaraguan volunteers rise early to get to the Alcaldia de Vara or to where the bus can pick them up.

Some of the volunteers don’t have breakfast, and once they arrive buy bread and a drink from one of the shops in La Sabanita. This is how the day begins. Some of them laugh, greet one another and crack a few jokes; others apply sun cream and insect repellent to protect them from the environmental conditions in the work place.

An invitation to the UK Consulate in Nicaragua this week allowed for a quick scramble to the market in order to spruce up to be worthy representatives for Progressio. The event was to celebrate the Queen’s birthday and the theme was loosely based upon the Baftas. Programmes such as Sherlock Holmes and Peppa Pig were emblazoned on the walls, alongside other timeless exports such as James Bond.

The difficulties of living in a country where you can’t understand what anyone is saying

On Friday 18 April, we flew from Heathrow and started our Zimbabwean adventure. We were all anxious about what lay ahead but were too excited to show it. We spent our first few days in Harare settling in and adjusting to the lifestyle. On Sunday we got to experience a slice of Zimbabwean culture when we were woken up by the churches three piece band. Having only had minimal church experience back home it was refreshing to see something that I would assume to be dull and boring to be full of life and passion.

Power cuts are just as much a part of Zimbabwe life as Sadza (a traditional Zimbabwean food). My first experience of a power cut was on the first night after. We, the national and UK volunteers, moved into our new home in Regina. Although we had known each other for almost a week now, we still had not fully bonded but this changed as we were suddenly plunged into darkness. We put candles and lamps on and sat in the living room, after talking we realised we had a common interest in music.

As a national volunteer I admire and thank the UK volunteers because they are adapting to a lifestyle that is very difficult for them and a complete change to what they are used to. They are adapting to very difficult things, as well as the work which is very hard. It is difficult being so far away from your family. They have risked coming to our country to support a nation which needs a lot of international help to overcome, bit by bit, the problems it faces, such as those concerning the environment.

The week commencing on the 4 May turned out to be very interesting, a bit tiring, with lots of sun, but despite it all, we were able to carry out the activities we had planned looking forward to helping people in La Sabanita.

Since last week’s in-country orientation, we have swiftly become acquainted with our new host families, a changing season and embarked on an entirely new project.