Want a deeper insight into what an ICS placement looks like? Read the amazing blogs written by our past and present volunteers. Enjoy the journey!
Local volunteer Raymond Tafadswa Muzundo writes:
After having spent their first weekend at Regina Coeli mission the UK volunteers now had a broad picture of the mission but were still anxious to get involved in the community. However, as it is said, failing to plan is to plan to fail.
Charlotte Le Flufy, who will be going to El Salvador as an ICS volunteer in January 2013, is running 10K every day, for 10 consecutive days, in 10 British cities to support a project that tackles poverty in El Salvador.
Charlotte has roped in friends and family from around the UK to help her on her way and keep her company for some of the 10k runs, in places such as Southampton, Manchester, Cardiff and Leeds!
In January Charlotte will team up with Salvadoran volunteers to tackle some of the problems facing their local community.
Only an hour and a half away from the bustling Malawian capital Lilongwe, is the regional district of Salima. If you search through its streets full of traders, craftsmen and haphazard bicycle taxis you’ll find the Salima branch of Environment Africa...our home for the next seven and a half weeks! Our team of ICS volunteers consists of five UK members (Elle, John, Holly, Mike, Mungo) and three local members (Brian, Sam, Mphatso).
Amanda Gonzalez has been known to many as a guerilla fighter for most of her life. She fought hard during the 80s to mobilise the local men and women to rise against the the military forces and from there has tried to escape the stigma that accompanies being a leftist “rojita”. The skills she learnt serving with the FPL (Fuerzas Populares de Liberación) were transferred following the ceasefire of 1992 to help serve her local community of women.
It was a tired, grubby, but nonetheless excited group that finally alighted from the second leg of our gruelling 14 hour airborne journey from Heathrow, onto sizzling, sunburnt tarmac.
Where are all the Guys?
This blog is a reflection on something that was brought to my attention whilst I was on my training weekend. I looked around the room and remember thinking “Where are all the guys?”… I convinced myself they all chose to receive their training in Bristol and that some more appearances would be made on our pre-departure day. I was definitely wrong. Since then I have been informed that in general, a lot more girls apply for ICS than guys.
The moment we stepped off the plane we had a warm welcome from our Malawi team leaders Kirstie, John and Hiliwona. What followed was a week of getting to know not just our fellow team mates but also the environment we were to live, learn and work in for the next couple of months. Needless to say it was a lengthy 7 days which culminated in bittersweet goodbyes between the volunteers as we divided into our 3 groups and left for our assigned placements.
A year ago, I could not have come close to predicting where I am right now.
The winds of fortune have blown me some 5,000 miles from home to El Salvador along with 12 new compadres.
El Salvador is a ceaselessly surprising and vibrant country: this tiny country the size of Wales is covered in volcanoes; the buses are all vividly decorated in every colour (much like the wildlife); and every wall is painted be it with street art, gang insignias or painted advertisements.
I have been in Honduras for over 2 weeks now and have managed to find a space for myself here in a new way of life, with a new set of people. Following an eventful training week in Ojojona, we have now moved to the west of Honduras to a town called Marcala, in which we will remain for the rest of our stay. Having settled into our team houses, made ourselves at home by decorating the walls with ‘family portraits’, and becoming acquainted with the locals, I have had a chance to embrace some of the culture here and get a taste of the development programme that I have become a part of.
By Aasim Shaffi
When I decided to volunteer in El Salvador, a developing country still bleeding from a 12 year long civil war, I wanted to stand with a Salvadoran, take on his problems and see life through his eyes. Despite not being able to do that, I witness the hardship of the people with every day that passes. The civil war left El Salvador 20 years ago, in 1992, but the chill of it still rages on in the civilian population who survived it.
