malawi

The weeks here are really beginning to fly, it’s hard to believe we’ve been here for a month already! We finally started work this week which we were all really happy about; we all feel like we have a proper purpose here now. The last week has been quite a tough one, not only was one of our team members sent home with malaria, but our electricity was also cut off and we’ve had no running

We’ve finally arrived in Salima! We’re all ready and raring to get our project underway. Over the first few days in our house, the colleagues we’ll be working with dropped by to introduce themselves. First of all we met Janet who was to be our house-helper for the next 8 weeks, and our guard who watches our house at night, although we did catch him having a sneaky nap one night!

After a week of culture training, some of the group decided they wanted to experience some of the things we had learnt first-hand. On Sunday we woke up bright and early and headed down some dusty roads to a local church. On arrival we split up into boys and girls and took our seats in different areas of the church. The church leader was happy to see us attending, and got us to stand up and intr

Following two weeks of intensive in-country training, we will be heading off to Salima to work with Malawi Interfaith Aids Association. We will be involved in projects aimed at changing communities’ views and perceptions surrounding HIV, AIDS, gender issues and abuse. The aim of this blog is to keep you as up to date as possible with information on our experiences.

On the 12th October we visited Kalolo village, about an hour’s drive from Lilongwe. Malawian villages are organised hierarchically with a Traditional Authority (in this village, Traditional Authority Kalolo), Group Village Headman, of which there is approx. 198 in Kalolo and Village Headmen.

Welcome to our team blog, TEAM LIWONDE LIONS. Just as a little introduction we are taking part in the ICS Empower programme, working with MANERELA (Malawian Network of Religious Leaders Living With or Personally Affected by HIV/AIDS) in Malawi to reduce HIV/AIDS-related Stigma, Silence, Denial, Discrimination, Inaction and Mis-action. So expect to read loads more about our 10 week placement but

By the Malawi ICS Empower team On the 10th and 11th of August we did a workshop for the villages of Selemani and Kampanje respectively. These are both villages in the Lozi community, with a fairly even divide between those who are Christians and those who are Muslims. In Selemani village we had 14 children and 33 people over the age of 14. In Kampanje village we h

By ICS Empower volunteers Naledi Loate and Laurienne Buhinja Having spent a few weeks in Malawi we have noticed that it is a slow paced nation and, coming from a fast paced society, the “no hurry no worry” attitude can be quite daunting and at times very frustrating. A reminder of this came when a member of our team had an allergic reaction and needed to be se

By ICS Empower volunteers Michaela Brown, Nick Smith and Gemma Wren Finding enough fuel to reach our project sites was not a challenge that we anticipated before arriving in Malawi. Although it’s expensive, the availability of fuel in the UK is something that we take for granted.

We arrived in Salima to find the accommodation good and the people friendly. The food seems to take a while to come after ordering but this is part of the famous ‘Africa time’ which we are still getting used to, after all the local slogan is “no hurry, no worry”. The lodge we are staying at is well appointed with an outdoor sitting area.