Want a deeper insight into what an ICS placement looks like? Read the amazing blogs written by our past and present volunteers. Enjoy the journey!
In the early hours of the 8 April, we first set our feet on the site of the classroom to be. As we encircled the ‘master of work’ - the man who was to instruct us on how to build the classroom, he grimaced at us with a look of disbelief, which stated, more clearly than any words could, how he felt about working with unskilled labourers.
Of all the things I thought I would get up to in the land of lions and nsima, directing a film wasn’t one of them.
However, on Thursday, that’s exactly what we did.
In Honduras, women have to cope with a host of sexist and macho attitudes from men. In rural society, women are often expected to stay indoors and are often not welcome to contribute their opinions when matters are being discussed. It is estimated that 500,000 Honduran women suffer from physical abuse at the hands of men each year. Men often leave their wives for other women, as marriage is not formal, and even men that stay married are expected to have affairs. This often leaves women alone, with young children and no income to support their future.
We’ve been in Honduras for six weeks now, and have visited lots of sights around Marcala. However, we still hadn’t been to the nearest tourist sight - the viewpoint over Marcala.
Recommended by the previous cycle’s leader Amro, we decided to don our walking boots and venture up the hill on Sunday, with our tour guide and national volunteer Willander in-town. For the first time in almost a week, the weather was beautiful. Having suffered torrential rain since Thursday, we were glad to see the sun again.
Since arriving in Honduras, the dish we have most come up against has been baleadas. This stuffed flour tortilla has divided the group, with the boys quick to embrace the Honduran speciality, while the girls remained some-what unimpressed.
Baleadas are a typical Honduran dish, eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner and consists of a warmed floured tortilla folded in half, typically containing refried beans, egg, cheese and mantequilla (Honduras’ answer to soured cream). Welcome additions are chicken, avocado and plantain chips, depending on the restaurant.
Man Cannot Live on Nsima Alone
Malnutrition is an ugly word.
Every human has the right to an education.
Tragically, in many communities in Malawi, children and adults just aren’t getting the teaching they need to make their way in the world. This void of knowledge leads to extremely high unemployment, low productivity, lower self-confidence among individuals, especially young people, and most destructively of all; a devastatingly high rate of HIV transmission.
We decided that this simply wouldn’t do at all.
Waste is a growing problem throughout the world, threatening wildlife and the health of many human beings, not to mention the decaying of its natural beauty. Team Sapitwa have been tackling the problem of waste in the Mulanje district of Malawi. Malawians are very house proud so the homes and gardens of the local populous are very clean. The problem is many Malawians don’t bin their waste a lot of the time. You can even see people sweeping rubbish from their front gardens onto the streets, which only adds to the problem.
On Thursday morning the Umodzi team, volunteers of COWLHA (Coalition of Women Living with HIV /AIDS) travelled to Liwaladzi, eager to meet the Timasukilane Support Group. The lord had sent us another beautiful sunny day and spirits were high throughout the team.
Upon our arrival we were given a very warm welcome. The moment the support group saw us coming towards them they all stood up and began singing and dancing to welcome us. There were hugs given all round and smiles on everyone’s faces.
