Who the FUNK are the Kardashians?! A week in the life of an ICS volunteer.

Saying farewell to my nearest and dearest as the placement spun around the corner proved to be a lot more tear-inducing than I had originally thought. There was the mission of packing and re-packing my rucksack, the difficulty of choosing what I needed to bring with me to survive, and the devastation of not being able to come coupled with my pet pooch. However, I arrived on time to Terminal 2 London Heathrow airport and combined forces with the other UK ICS volunteers, some of whom were meeting one another for the first time. Being as nervous as I was, I managed to make my way through to departures without my team and missed the group photo! Luckily, I successfully and safely completed the two part journey with my new squad and we received a very warm welcome from Lena in Lilongwe. Our ten week adventure was off to a flying start.

The International Citizen Office in Lilongwe felt somewhat like summer camp with everyone in bunk beds and some top and tail action. The days to follow consisted of getting to know our other halves (counterparts), being introduced to our fellow in-country volunteers and Mercy’s guesthouse where we ate our meals. Not forgetting the introduction of bucket showers and additional training, including; Code of Conduct, Safety and Security, Budgeting, and theorising potential project plans and ideas.

We later split into the two teams and were on route to either Siya-Siya or Dedza. Little did I know what I had let myself in for; instantly everything seemed more beautiful, the clouds looked puffier and a lot more relaxed here in Malawi as the concept of time evaporated. By the time we had arrived at our new homes and met our new families, it was dark.  So, I sat in my new box room, alone, warm and verging on insanely anxious. A first impression, the Malawian culture is portrayed as a blessing and a curse in the outback. The amount of children seen under the age of 10 in the passing villages and that of Siya-Siya is remarkable. Yet, culture has taught them in other ways to unite and live off one another. What followed was spotting the most incredible star-shower I have ever seen with some new friends.

Soaking up the undercurrents of the city, on my first day in the village I encountered the hole in the ground that was to be my toilet for the next nine weeks either I had to go, or I had to go, go.  Venturing out into the market and embracing this foreign land, it was time to mingle and meet the locals.  We were able to get a true sense of the culture and somewhat of an idea of what it would be like to be famous with people constantly shouting “Mzungu!” (white person). We roamed the local market to sample of the fine street food – chips and egg, more accurately described as a chip omelette, nothing like we would expect in the UK. Trying out the culinary customs – eating with your hands, which was more a onetime thing as I could only hear my mother in the back of my mind telling me off as a young child. As I underwent a crash course in the native language, Chichewa, this proved very funny for my teachers, unfortunately at my expense. A man offered for me to become his wife in exchange for his bike. Where I’m from this would be considered an insult, but here a bike is one of his most treasured possessions, which took a moment for me to register. Despite dressing modestly and trying local cuisine and language, I will never blend in here; yet I intend to use this to my advantage, to help achieve the overall aim of the placement – enrolling, retaining and educating young people in schools.

 Music unites us: In-country volunteer Mbilika Mwentembela and UK volunteer Alun Cook.

Siya-Siya is located in the heart of Malawi. No travel guide book could have had me prepared for this and I longed for a sense of a familiarity but my phone was completely out of use. We wondered around the small village of Siya-Siya to quite literally stumble upon the river “Lipimbi” to see some of the locals bathing and doing their washing. Watching the sun and moon cross paths on a beautifully simplistic landscape, this all made me wonder - do I take advantage of such things when I am back at home in Ireland? Is my mind pre-occupied and distracted by pointless things so much that I am unable to notice the beauty around my own home?

Bubbles of joy! In-country volunteer Victoria Chilemba introducing bubbles to the children at the Transitional Centre.

On Monday we were surprised by the team leaders and told that today we would be teaching a class in the transitional centre that our office is located next to. It came as a shock to realise that for our first class we would not have a wifi connection or adequate time to prepare a detailed, well thought out lesson. Thankfully, Madame Maureen had the class syllabus. I got Mathematics which I thought should be easy to teach in any language. Paired with Fyuapi, Hope and Mbilika, the Beyonce’s of Chichewa (!), we were assigned to teach the kids the importance of using tallies and graphs. I was nervous but then realised the children simply enjoyed our presence. They were responsive to the mzungus, fortunately for our in-country team members. The class had initially only nine students attending at the start of lesson one but by the third lesson there were thirty-two children attending. Slowly as the class went on I began feeling more comfortable and more focused on setting goals to achieve by the end of the lesson. Success! They were able to complete the exercises we had planned.

Instead of viewing this experience as a huge personal challenge, I must take the view that I am in a unique position to be volunteering and living alongside this community. This is how people in certain parts of the world live for their entire lives, not just for a measly 10 weeks like I will be doing. This highlights again what is really important, the reasons as to why am I here – to help reduce child labour and marriages, improve access to education, to educate and learn in turn. I have witnessed the multiple long, hot walks women and children make in order to obtain water for the household, and it has now become clear to me that I use far too much water at home. Children huddle around you as you drink bottled water in anticipation not for a drink, but for the empty plastic bottle; I have never seen anything like it – it is as if a plastic bottle is fairy dust. Bottles are collected by shops in exchange for money to be washed and re-used by shops to sell local water or cooking oil.

Productivity is key: Mid-meeting with the principle at Matenje primary school with the aim of empowering and educating the most marginalised children.

On Tuesday we hitch-hiked a lift to our first school Matenje primary school for introductions after paying a small fee to the local biker squad. The ride was surprisingly comfortable and we were taken on a very beautiful, scenic route. I had wisely selected my soundtrack; On top of the world – Imagine dragons, Waves – Kanye West, Good riddance – Green Day, to name a few and match my mood – bliss. Once we had arrived children swarmed towards us and greeted with “Bo”, accompanied by a fist-bump. A meeting was conducted with the deputy head master. He wanted our assistance in getting children to attend school and we discussed the challenges they faced. The severe lack of resources is exemplified by a few facts. One textbook is shared between five students and some classes are conducted under trees due to the need for infrastructure. After lunch we walked to Kanjuwi primary school which was made up of eight classrooms, consisting of 19 teachers, 1,045 male and 936 female students. Overcrowding is a severe problem, standard four holds more than 130 students. Moreover, the teacher has access to only two of the nine textbooks required to teach the syllabus! I am faced with teaching children that it is their right to be educated and that within a classroom setting they will learn some of life’s most valuable life skills. Yet there is barely any room in the classroom for the sheer number of children it accommodates. As a team we must overcome these challenges and plan interactive lessons in order to ensure that the most marginalised children coming to school without a book or a pencil, are learning too.

Thumbs up: ‘Siya today Siya tomorrow’ enjoying a ride back from visiting Matenje primary school with the with the local taxi service.

That night I experienced my first blackout and discovered that very few establishments within the village have installed solar panels. I was feeling extremely uneasy, warm without a working fan and left questioning all my life choices. Within the hour my mood had switched and as did the power, much to my relief. I was sitting in my host home with Andrew (my “brother”) fussing over my well-being, as well as the direction and distance between me and the living room fan.

After university, I was unsure of what to do, and I hoped that volunteering would allow me to redirect other people’s futures whilst also giving me a clearer picture of my own. Here the possibilities for potential careers are limited for those in rural villages such as Siya-Siya. Jobs are scarce, the economy is failing and the government neglects basic needs. However, this hasn’t compromised sense of personal security, which might be because I carry pepper spray! Everyone is so friendly, in comparison to the uninviting passers-by that I am used to back in Edinburgh.

Having completed week one of the placement, I am feeling more uncertain than ever. The problem that we are trying to tackle is prolific, and comes hand in hand with many others such as; lack of school resources, teachers’ wages and corruption. There are three things I am sure of - we all have to start somewhere, preparation is key and I love a challenge.

The best is yet to come.


- Amy B O'Hagan