Coming to the end of my ICS placement I want to make clear the
expectations vs reality of volunteering in a developing country. I (foolishly)
expected to arrive in Dedza, be dropped off at my host home that was made of
mud with a thatched roof, and not see a TV until ten weeks later when I arrived
back in the UK! Not that having a television is a measure of wealth, but the TV
in my host home is actually better than the TV in my family home (one of our
team members arrived at a home with a plasma TV and full surround sound,
accompanied by bare concrete walls, in a non-Scandinavian fashion way). My
walls are made of brick and cement and the roof isn't thatched! In fact, my
host home is much more comfortable than my flat share in London. There is power
– provided there isn't a black out, which occurs very often. I came to Malawi
moderately prepared for black outs as I assumed I would be living in the middle
of nowhere in said-mud-hut, with two torches and a portable charger (which has
turned out to be a godsend). Malawi in general is subject to regular black outs
due to a lack of resources to power the country. So, if you do volunteer in
Malawi do expect to see mud huts, but they are mostly native to the isolated
regions and villages.
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| A family who live next to the office prepare food in the garden of their brick-built home! |
My second big expectation (also very much down to the west-centric
viewpoint we have of Africa) was to see children everywhere, malnourished and
in rags. Sadly, I would be lying to say you will not see this. Most children I
have met have been dressed in ripped clothes, worn by generations of children
before them. Clothing is not necessarily a symbol of poverty here - most
clothes come from donation banks from Europe and the states, and often the
clothes are bought with the holes. The other day my 9 year-old twin host
sisters were trying on new clothes, and I have never seen children so excited
to have 'new' clothes that were so ripped apart! Rips and tears are not
synonymous with poverty here, when rips and tears are standard. Most children I
have seen are, most likely, living in a state of poverty incomparable to
poverty in the UK. They will work on house chores from a very young age (there
are 9 year olds better at cooking, cleaning and washing than I am at 20), and
some will be forced to drop out of school to help support their families (a practice
we have been researching and focusing on). In one survey, it transpired that
across 14 schools, 367 children had dropped out in 2016/17, over a quarter of
them left to work, mainly in farming but also 2 students (both aged 17) in
prostitution. Around 20% of children also left due to either early pregnancy or
early marriage.
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| Being taught how to dance by Malawian children at an Open Day raising awareness of early marriages. |
Here, they know two sentences in English: 'hello how are you!' and 'give
me my money'. I'm unsure how many of the younger ones know the Chichewa
translation of what they are asking, but I am sure at some point when they ask
an 'Unzungu' (white person) for money, they are given it, so they ask every
Unzungu they see. The way this differs from my expectation was that I
implicitly assumed that these children would be unhappy, because they are poor,
but these children have a lot more freedom than most people who grow up in the UK.
Sadly, their poverty will systematically impact them as they grow up, but at
this time in their lives the children I have met are so unaware of the issues
that might face them that they truly enjoy the simplicity of Malawian life. so
- poverty is not always the comic relief imagery of rib cage skinny children,
it is often much more discrete.
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| A typical meal of Nsima, salad and fish! |
My third misconception is extremely self-centred, but I think it's
important to think about. I assumed that I would lose loads of weight because
'people in Africa are starving'. We have this assumption that starving and
malnourished means unnecessarily thin. This, I think, is the biggest
misconception people had about my placement in Malawi. In fact, my host family
and most Malawians take great pride in their food, and I've eaten so much Nsima
it's probably best I've reached the end of my placement; my stomach might just
explode maize plant! A few weeks ago my host mother looked at me with great pride
on her face and muttered something in Chichewa. I was expecting something sweet
and encouraging, when my counterpart explained that she had said I have 'gained
quite a bit of weight'. She meant well, I think. A week later my neighbour
reiterated my host mum's words, to then be explained to by her husband (who has
family in the UK) that people in the UK are weird, ‘they think it's good not to
eat’! This sentence was really enlightening for me. With a west-centric view of
the world, and wallet to go with it, food no longer seems a necessity - we
spend time and money making it a luxury. I don't eat food because it is high in
calories to fuel my day; I eat food that tastes good and sustains me. I care
about being slim because I have the privilege to be able to see food in a way
that allows me to be slim. And so I think this misconception was one of the
most enlightening on my own viewpoints.
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| Team cultural trip to Kungoni museum at Mua Mission |
I have spent time and energy worrying about coming back to the UK with a
slightly larger waistband, but in retrospect my time here and the work we have
done has been so much more valuable than any weight gain. And I am so
privileged to come to a country where people are suffering as they cannot
access enough food, and be fed the amount I have been. Also, malnourishment
isn't all skinny children with bloated stomachs, it is a lack of a balanced
diet. I have been lucky to enjoy Malawian food and it has been interesting to
spend so long having a diet completely different to mine at home. I have tried
everything I have been given (apart from one occasion when dinner was served as
three semi-fried mice). I have also learnt that if you are to eat meat, you
should make use of all of the animal. Malawians are very good at making use of
what they have, and it is not unusual to be served a fried chicken head or
feet, offal (goats intestines), or even, as one volunteer was given, goats jaw
fully equipped with teeth!
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| After climbing Dedza Mountain on our last day, we look out over Dedza, proud of what we have achieved. |
There are certain things I have become so accustomed to here that will
be odd to see back in the U.K. I will miss the wraps an unexplainable amount;
they're versatile, vibrant, practical and comfortable.
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| Me (third from left) in my Chitenje with team Dusty Dedza. |
It will be odd not
seeing bike taxis (Kabaza), mice on sticks, Nigerian TV programmes and 9 year-olds being way better than I will ever be at cooking! Although I approached
this experience with skewed ideals, I am so glad to have been able to have the
chance to work at altering my mindset to be adaptable.
So I say goodbye to my team and look forward to travelling home after what has been a challenging, inspiring, eye-opening and life-changing journey.
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| Team Dusty Dedza say their final goodbye. |
By Sophie Bjorholm-Lewis
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