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.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment