Pictured above: Mike and I coordinating an activity in an HIV session at the TA Youth Group. This involved showing pictures of people and seeing whether they could be identified as HIV positive or negative.
My first blog was focused on the early planning stages of the project as we recognised that our efforts in the placement would be much more successful if there was a consensus amongst volunteers about what work we wanted to do. Now that we are a few weeks into our programme, we have established an agenda for what tasks we want to complete within our ten weeks here and have managed to tick off a few so far. Here are the activities which we have been involved in.
I previously mentioned that the villages we would be focusing our efforts on for the duration of the placement were called Katengeza and Phalazi. These villages were chosen because the work which needs to be done in them corresponds with Arise and Shine’s (ASI) objectives. The first task we set ourselves was to complete a gross profit margin analysis in both villages in order to understand their economic situations and what could be done to improve them. The gross profit margin analysis allowed us to learn what money the farmers were making off particular crops and also the overheads attached. With this information we were then able to see what profits they were making from their produce. It seems like a simple activity, but both the people in Katengeza and Phalazi had never recorded this information and this meant that they had not identified their most lucrative crops or their biggest expenses. In helping them recognise both these things, we were then able to advise them on what changes they could make to maximise profits and minimise spending.
Baseline surveys were also carried out in both villages which allowed us to gain a more specific understanding on the people’s economic situations. Having completed them for each household in both Katengeza and Phalazi, we have been able to find out about what amenities families own, what natural resources they have access to, and also what they lack and the impact this has on their livelihoods. In feeding this date back to the people at ASI, they are able to gain a better understanding on what is deficient in the villages and the steps they need to take to rectify this.
We have also been getting involved in more hands-on activities. Using resources provided by ASI, we have spent some time planting maize and tomato seeds in both villages which we then irrigated afterwards. Given the constant laughter of the farmers we worked alongside, they have clearly enjoyed our company and also the regular necessity to correct us on how to use their agricultural equipment. These lessons were put to good use when we coordinated the construction of a permaculture garden at Malingunde Secondary School, which allowed us to teach the students on how they can grow their own fruit and vegetables and the financial importance of doing this.
Pictured above: UK and International volunteers preparing the land in Katengeza for the planting of maize and tomato seeds.
Aside from surveys and agricultural activities, we have spent some of our time teaching HIV/AIDS sessions in local schools and youth groups. HIV is a huge problem in Malawi with 12% of the population diagnosed as HIV positive. One of our objectives for the placement is to share knowledge on this topic so that we can reduce stigmas that surround the illness. We are also tasked with the responsibility of explaining and encouraging preventative measures in order to increase awareness about how HIV can be stopped from spreading. Our second week here was spent attending sessions (run by ASI) which taught us how to facilitate classes on HIV and since then we have successfully coordinated a number of lessons. They have been attended by large numbers of people and it has been pleasing to see their enthusiasm to learn about how they can stop this pandemic that is so prevalent in Malawi.
All in all, it has been a satisfying and rewarding past few weeks as planning has been replaced by more dynamic activities. All of us have enjoyed working in the villages alongside such warm and welcoming people and the HIV awareness classes are a nice opportunity to interact with a number of different groups. We are now looking forward to coordinating a nutrition assessment in Phalazi as well as an HIV awareness campaign and when I next write I will report on the success of these.
Until then!
Written by George Green
