Focus Groups, football and fish eyes – 24/07/17

Team ‘Dusty Dedza’ are the first International Service group to work with the Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (CYECE); their aim is to work with young people, in particular girls and young women, to empower them to access education. They achieve this by addressing cultural challenges that result in learners dropping out of school such as teenage pregnancies or early marriages. Our team is led by Jason (UK) and Ernest (Malawi) with 8 further volunteers, 4 from the UK and 4 from Malawi, including Gus, Pelani, Zoe, Chrispin, Sophie, Maria, Rahema and Louisa.

Our role is to act as pioneers, carrying out baseline assessments where we collect important information from learners, parents, schools, village leaders and government officials that will influence the entire project from this point. Our initial one to one interviews have already highlighted several issues that we hadn’t considered prior to the placement in Dedza. Some of those issues involved the ongoing and prevalent stigma around sexual activity, contraception, HIV/Aids and other STIs.

We interviewed a group of girls aged between 15-30, who concentrate on dealing with early marriages, school drop outs, anti-bullying campaigns and enabling access to relevant information on sexual and reproductive health. They formed the ‘Advocates for Change’ girls group. 

Meeting with Girls Advocate for Change youth group

One of our aims is to empower girls to engage in the issues they face and increase the amount of meaningful participation within their communities. This will enable them to have a better foundation for their future and help to create more change from the ground up as part of a grassroots movement.

Community development revolves around enabling people to make the communities they are part of better places to live and be involved in. It involves people taking ownership of their own activities and being able to play an active role in change and we are proud to be a part of a programme which facilitates development for young girls and women.

Picture of the team and girls youth group, ‘Advocates for Change’

A people to people approach through volunteering is a powerful way of facilitating action, change and communities. Through the use of national and international volunteers we will be able to implement developmental activities by using the ‘best of both worlds’ approach, using the skills of both the UK and Malawi volunteers and in partnership with localised groups to enable sustainable change.

As part of the program, we each deliver a Guided Learning session once a week. Last week’s session focused on a debate on international development and foreign aid as well as first aid! I (Gus), delivered the first aid training and the majority of the team had no prior experience of first aid technique. During the session we covered full body assessments, CPR, DRABC (Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation) and triage.

Since our arrival in Dedza, we’ve watched two matches at the local stadium (The Mighty Wanderers vs. Master security and Master Security VS Chitipa united). The Malawian football experience has both similarities and differences compared to the British experience. 

Working at Molima Family Home Orphanage

For example, football chants exist but involve vuvuzelas and goat skin drums. There are food vendors; people of a wide range of ages who sell everything, from chicken and belts to watches! While we were sat down, gradually children moved closer and closer to us, moving when they thought we weren’t looking until we ended up surrounded; it felt like they were more interested in us than the football game!  

We also visited the Molima Family Home, a family run organisation which provides accommodation for around 30 children so that they can access education during term time. We helped them to create a banner supporting a fundraising event in the UK as well as doing some painting and playing games with the children. We were also able to deliver anti-bullying and Sexual Health and Reproductive Health sessions.

In terms of culture shock, food seems to be the biggest area! The amount of carbs in the form of Nsima (maize flour and water), rice and chips that our Malawian friends eat has taken some getting used to. However it makes sense that in a country that suffers from sourcing a variety of foods, that the main diet consists of food that is inexpensive, filling and readily available rather than a wide variety of local and imported goods that we have available in the UK. One of us has already  accidently eaten fish eyes and I’ve been offered offal (goat intestines) more than once. But it is all part of the cultural exchange and as a team we have certainly embraced that very important aspect of the ICS programme. We look forward to the many experiences to come.

Pictured left to right: Louisa, Sophie, Pelani, Maria, Gus, Rahema, Chrispin and Zoe

Written by Gus Gaskell.