ICS blog

 “Pencils down in five minutes, finish your pictures guys.” A flurry of paper and splashing of colour. 12 eager faces, determined to create masterpieces and succeeding with creative zeal.

We are now 6 weeks into our programme and things are in full swing. We are carrying out psycho-social support (PSS) sessions every week teaching the kids about child rights, sexual reproductive health and HIV and Aids. We have many exciting things planned for the final few weeks of our project, and it’s dawned on us all that our time here is quickly coming to an end and our ICS journey will be over sooner than we think. 

Week 5 started with another tree planting exercise at Msiki in the area of Group Village Headman Chibambo on Monday. With us we brought 450 pine tree seedlings that were to be planted on the woodlot surrounding the unfinished Msiki Community Multipurpose Hall, an addition to the 535 trees planted in week 2.

The Village Headman, Chairlady of the Community’s Aids Support Group (Msiki ASG) and some members of the ASG were amongst the 8 from the community that came and helped the team on that sunny day.

Week 4 has got off to a flying start here in Bulawayo. The Restoration of Hope team have been busy all week working with local schools on a whole host of topics; HIV/AIDS, Sexual Reproductive Health, Child Rights and Income Generating Activities just to name a few. 

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

We arrived in Harare at two in the afternoon following a fourteen hour journey from London, Heathrow. Along the way we stopped at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Lusaka in Zambia. The stops were enjoyable enough, enabling us to see other parts of Africa and the vast change in climate and environment.

After we arrived in Harare we took a minibus for a short journey to the Small World lodge. We were expecting something somewhat different and were all pleasantly surprised by the garden and living area of the lodge filled with crafted metal artwork and comfortable furniture.

This week we have been working more intensely and groups 1 and 2 have split up to begin covering the eco-latrines. With the help of our facilitators we built the first model to serve as a guide for the mini groups, ensuring we were aware of exact measurements and all the materials we would need. With tools in hand we finished the first cover together.

Dust, sweat, aches and the occasional minor injury; all signs of hard work. We have powered through our sixth week with a renewed vigor, fresh after a productive mid-term review at the weekend and ready to build.

The greenhouse of Santa Marta is an area in the community where youth work to produce vegetables in a sheltered area, so as to later sell those vegetables to the community at a low price.  The group’s main goal is to benefit people from the community, providing them with quality products at a low price. 

On 3 February, in light of the Miss Honduras killing, Channel 4 reporter Guillermo Galdos wrote an article highlighting the perils women in Honduras face on a daily basis. Entitled ‘Honduras: Where women are killed for $60’, the article depicts a violent drug fuelled country where its women are treated like the dirt on the bottom of a shoe - it is certainly worth a read. Coincidently, our placement selection of Honduras fell within the exact week of this murder. Ripples were felt across the globe.

Day 1:

We began the work by all visiting the site where we will build the Tourist Welcome Centre.  We began to clean up the area by cutting away some of the weeds that were on the site, cleaning up the area, and picking up rubbish. Then lunch time arrived and we were all very happy that it was time to eat.