ICS blog

Moni! (Hi!)

Team Ngwazi have been living in Malawi for 2 weeks now. We have had many great experiences and have loved familiarising ourselves with Malawian culture and its people. Malawi has proven to be a welcoming, friendly and interesting place, and every day we learn something new about the culture and customs of the country.

Progressio International Citizen Service (ICS) volunteers have been involved in encouraging participation in youths’ entrepreneurial activities within the Ungweru catchment area. This has been one way of teaching and encouraging Malawian youths how to fish. .  

OIBM officer and ICS volunteers delivering a session to the youth.

The sessions have been organized by Ungweru (a Malawian host partner organisation of Progressio) in collaboration with the Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM). 

When was the last time you found yourself out of your comfort zone? When did you last push yourself and end up having one of the best experiences of your life? This is what happened to Luis Hernandez, a 20 year old Londoner whose parents had emigrated from Chile.

Currently, Luis works as a freelance graphic designer, but a couple of years ago he was going through difficult times. “I was lost; didn’t know what to do with my life so began to go out with the wrong crowd and do bad things”, he reveals.

Partnered with the Diocese of Mutare Care Cordination Programme (DOMCCP) from July-September 2014, Progressio volunteers have been thoroughly getting involved with communities and fast becoming globally active citizens. 

After twenty-two hours’ worth of travelling in taxis, coaches and planes before finally touching down in Harare, anything goes. That sentiment hasn’t worn off even – or, especially – after three weeks settling into Zimbabwean life. 

Out of the airport’s arrival hall and stepping into one of the famous commuter minibuses, or ‘combis,’ for the first time, we were naïve in being amazed at how spacious it was as we bounced through the dusty countryside.  Africa has so far met expectations, and so much more. 

Analysing the group’s dynamics, I feel that I can safely say every team member has adapted as a member of the Nuevo Gualcho community. To reach this conclusive state of mind, the journey has included a mixture of both similarities and differences with ways of living back at ‘home’.

It is Saturday morning and the hottest day of our time in Malawi so far. Our destination is Chanzi Support Group. It is fair to say we were feeling slightly apprehensive and unsure of what to expect as it was the first support group we attended during our placement. We started later than expected, which seems to be the custom in Malawi, but once we arrived we were given the warmest of welcomes: a traditional Malawian song and dance was performed in our honour by the members of the support group. 

We have now been in beautiful Honduras for a month working on a waste management plan for the municipality of Guayape. Getting the community involved and having their support is of paramount importance if this project is to be sustainable after Progressio ICS leave the municipality.

The three towns we are working in are Guayape, Suyapita, and Santa Cruz; located in the centre of Honduras. We are starting a waste management project in these towns which means literally starting from the ground up. Currently, there is no system in place for collecting or treating waste, so the majority of it is dumped in ‘hotspot’ areas, around the towns or it is washed into certain areas by heavy rains.

This week, we implemented an HIV support group into our programme as we felt that it was important to reach out to these groups providing information about disclosure of HIV and AIDS, health and nutrition, the importance of a nutritional garden and the technique of seed savings. This is similar work to what our partner organisation, the Diocese of Mutare Community Care Programme (DOMCCP), do so we were keen to reach out to more members of the community.