ICS blog

“Street child” has commonly been referred to as young person working and living on the street in urban centres. Street children are widespread in underdeveloped and developing countries and Zimbabwe has experienced a rise in children living on the streets. Several reasons such as poverty, low household income, violation of child rights, sexual exploitation, HIV and AIDS, neglect and rebellion against guardians and parents have been a contributing factor.

This week was our first practical gardening workshop in the youth clubs, our first workshops in schools and also our first team attempt at making sadza (Zimbabwe's staple food).

As we approach the half waypoint, it seems like a good time to reflect on the past six weeks or so. It has been all, challenging, exhilarating and at times exhausting, though through all this the learning has been non-stop. My previous apprehensions of whether to commit to the ICS journey has ceased.
 

Nkhata Bay is a district in the northern part of Malawi, which is along the shores of the famous Lake Malawi. The district is very mountainous and is covered with green vegetation, making it look beautiful. This is due to a number of factors such as the fertile soil but mostly due to the district receiving lots of rain throughout the year. Cassava, maize and tobacco are the most popular crops that are grown, and maize is the staple food (Nsima).

The ICS programme is a carefully crafted, step-by-step, learning rollercoaster, testing patience, perseverance and a great lesson to show how the other half live. In our case, in Nicaragua, El Bramadero needs eco-stoves. The living conditions of a lot of the families out here can have long-term illnesses for them. This is fundamentally a product from their kitchens. The state of their ovens almost depicts the health of the families, which isn’t right. All the residents of El Bramadero, like everywhere in the world, should be entitled to a healthy life. 

A few weekends ago we set out in the early morning to visit a Malawian potter. We met Micki outside her small brick house surrounded by her pots laid out for our investigation. She had a whole range of items spread on the sandy floor, from traditional beer drinking vessels, to larger flower vases which are liked by local lodges. After a round of compulsory hand shaking and introductions, Micki led us to the shell of her neighbour’s house where she currently works, due to the shade provided by the half structure.

“Music is something that helps you and pulls you out of all types of problems” – Ñoto, Bajo Lempa

This week we had the exciting opportunity to learn from and help a reforestation organisation. Carbono Comunitario is an organisation that works with local communities and families in the San Juan de Limay area. They provide them with roughly 1,000 plants per plot of land, and educate them on how to sustainably plant, maintain and cut the weaker trees. As well as improving the fertility of the land and helping our changing climate, the cut down trees act as another source of income for the family.

La semana del 16 al 20 de mayo los voluntarios nicas y británicos tuvimos nuestras clases de inglés y español lo que nos ayuda para mejorar nuestro aprendizaje del idioma y poder comunicarnos mejor como grupo.

In response to the concerns from the school authorities of Beulah Heights Secondary School, Zimbabwe, over the lack of trees around their school property which had resulted in flash flooding; we decided to present them with nursery tree donations and educate their children on the importance of trees. The school has been affected by flash floods which resulted from heavy down pours and heavy wind on the night of 17 December 2014, and the more recent 2015-2016 rainy seasons.