ICS blog

This week was the first of our sessions, with sessions running from Monday to Wednesday and Thursday and Friday dedicated to planning. The first session that I lead was a mothers’ group in Chatindo, which was really successful. We had 29 mothers turn up with more people continuing to turn up throughout the session. This session we focused on establishing relationships with mothers and helping them to establish a support group that will continue to run and meet up after we have completed our ICS placement.

This week all UK volunteers had the pleasure of a homestay for two days in the houses of our national counterparts, in the rural, mountainous village of La Asomada. Here is a small insight into a fantastic opportunity we had to truly become immersed into their rural community. 

Emma: the female perspective of life in La Asomada:

Following the same pattern as many other Latin American nations, Honduras sadly receives much negative coverage. To the complete outsider, pre-conceived notions of this country are more than likely to be based upon the reports on issues such as organised crime, violence against women, and severe poverty levels. 

Majestically rising 3002 metres from the ground, Mulanje Massif has become an iconic symbol of Malawi's heightening awareness of Environmental sustainability and conservation. This isolated granite formation sits grandly in the south of the country, overlooking the vast golden tea fields and the small sea of colourful Mulanjean homes. 

Last week, saw the start of our first productive work at Simukai. Some people wonder what is Simukai? What do they stand for? Why are they needed? These are many questions that I asked myself before the start of the cycle and my volunteer journey. Within the first week of visiting Simukai it suddenly became clear to me how special they are because of what they do. They make a stand for child rights, they protect and reunify children living on the streets and educate children on HIV and AIDS.

The first day of work arrives and the sun is blistering already at only eight 0’clock in the morning!

The first of our two major projects is to work on the Hacienda. It is an 18th century, derelict building, that families once inhabited, but now stands crumbling amongst trees, vines and litter.

The second project is based at the nearby waterfall, part of the river ‘La Posa’. Locals use this for washing the dishes, jumping off rocks into it or cooling themselves off from the midday heat.

Arriving in Nyanga to our home for the next 9 weeks was very exciting. Nyanga is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains covered in crisp white clouds and bright orange roads. The setting was quite different from the city feel of Mutare but once again the people were ever so welcoming and excited to get to know you and what type of work you’ll be doing. It felt really nice to arrive into our community and participate in the local church processions, interact with the children and engage with the women in the community and those who will be helping to facilitate our projects.

Imagine, if you will, a life without an electricity supply to power an oven, a hob, or even a light bulb? Having to collect wood every day to create a fire to cook food, the smoke in your eyes, and the slow process of cooking whilst having to make sure your children are safe. Many women within communities in Mzuzu face this balance on a daily basis to enable them to cook food for their families. 

We kicked our first day of orientation off with a sunrise-lit jog down the dirt road outside the gates of our commune, to a view of mountains silhouetting before a rapidly warming glow. A welcome icy bucket bath later we arrived at the circle seated room, notebooks open and pens poised. Mr Mark (Progressio Zimbabwe Logistics Officer) welcomed us kindly and wasted no time in mingling the national and international volunteers from DOMCCP, Restoration of Hope and Simukai to catalyse the bonding and team-building process between us all. 

We were all pretty excited about the arrival of the British ambassador to Nicaragua. We'd been told about it when we arrived but suddenly he was actually going to be here in real life - I think some of us were hoping he'd be wearing tails and carrying a British flag! We were all a bit nervous in anticipation but when he arrived smiling and looking thoroughly friendly and normal, he put us all at ease immediately.