ICS blog

HIV and AIDS

It’s week seven here in Mulanje and the topic we are speaking about in this week’s blog is awareness campaigns. The group have been very busy spreading awareness on environmental issues and HIV and AIDS in the local communities, mainly to youth groups. Team Sapitwa have worked with four youth groups so far and plan to conduct more campaigns before their placement comes to an end in a few weeks.

It’s been an eye opening period of realisation for the ICS Progressio volunteers working at Simukai Child Protection agency, based in Mutare. If I look back at when we stepped off the plane onto Harare soil, arriving as the new (but slightly less fresh team members - after that journey), I guess we knew to expect the unexpected, but we still didn't know much about our partner organisation and what we’d be dealing with. 

Three weeks into the project and I woke up one morning with a chunk of one of my molars missing. Slightly alarmed by this discovery, I phoned our Medical Officer to find some answers. I was told it had probably dislodged in the night due to bruxism (tooth grinding), a problem I have suffered in the UK also. An appointment was kindly made for the following morning during which my tooth was painlessly cleaned and filled and I was able to return to work confident that I had been well treated. However, for some, access to dental care is not so easy.

We set foot outside Managua’s airport after a dizzying 14 hour flight from London Heathrow, and were greeted by the stifling heat of a Nicaraguan summer. With our suitcases strapped to the roof of the minibus that picked us up, we began our journey to the hostel where we would be spending our first four days. Hoping for a lie-in the following morning to recover from our jetlag, a synchronised groan sounded throughout the minibus when we were informed that we would be meeting at 7am the following morning to begin the day’s activities.

Welcome to Part II of ‘Team Mtende makes a film.’ Here, we will get a glimpse behind the scenes at Mzuzu studios. 

As part of our HIV awareness raising campaign, we decided to compose a short film about the importance of HIV testing. Of course, most of us had very little idea of how to make a film. Some of us, myself included, had absolutely no idea whatsoever. We placed our faith in Dan and his knowledge of Film and TV production, and in Kisha with her knowledge of performing arts. 

The rest of us just sort of winged it. 

The Plot

It was a radio advert that I heard whilst driving through the Lake District that first got me interested in ICS. I have always been keen to help others, my job as a support worker and my application to do nursing studies at university reflects this. My close friend had volunteered in Ghana for three weeks and hearing her stories would make me want to get abroad and volunteer even more! After hearing the advert I decided that I would apply to ICS.

There is a scene in ‘Cool Runnings’ in which one of the Jamaicans sees the falling snow of Vancouver for the first time, and runs back to the airport to put on every item of clothing he has brought with him.

By stark comparison, our Progressio team arrived in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, and were greeted by an unforgiving 40 degree heat. My first night in Managua was spent turning all of my trousers into shorts and trying to make the ceiling fan point in my direction.

We have been visiting Chanzi Support Group for some weeks now and have managed to build very strong relationships with the women within the group. Sian and I, a fellow member of Team Umodzi, took it upon ourselves to create a small visual/media project which we carried out over a selection of visits. Maggie and Selly, our national volunteers, kindly assisted us throughout the project. They did a fantastic job translating for us, we really couldn’t have achieved as much as we have without them!

From spending only a short amount of time in Masaya, it became apparent that rubbish disposal is a big problem here. Piles of litter are thrown into illegal rubbish dumps throughout the city, which remain until rainy season when they are sadly washed into the lagoon. One local woman said “Cuando las personas indígenas vivían aquí, [la laguna] era muy limpia”. (When the indigenous people lived here, [the lagoon] was very clean).

At the beginning of the project we began work on the construction of a new classroom at the school in Monimbo. The school, Escuela Modelo Monimbo, was built 34 years ago and is partly built by volunteers in the past.