Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Ms. Olivia Viola
I love travelling. I want to travel to as many places as I can in my lifetime. But I have come to realise, my desire to travel has been selective. I wanted to go to all the nice places in the world, never to the outskirts, let alone of my own country. But today I have come to understand why tourists leave comfortable homes to camp in the woods.
Too much has changed in such a little time. In precisely two months and three weeks I can confidently talk about mind-set change. CorpsAfrica is big on mind-set change. We had this intensive training about how mind-set change is paramount in community development, and how to be a catalyst for mind-set change in our respective communities. Little did I know mine was a mind in need of urgent change. My personal growth as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer? Beyond imaginable. I am not going to talk about how my integration has been excruciating to say the least. Sorry to disappoint. Maybe next time, probably next time. I am going to tap a little into the concept of humility and how I literally fell face front into it. How I have found myself needing validation from the ones the world has come to call "proletariats?". But listen, this approval is not an illusion. It is indeed credited.
When I thought about going to my site, Mpalale, Dedza, my stomach turned upside down, every time. I wanted to be excited about the new experience and everything that came along with it but my fears overcrowded me. I developed a coping mechanism to try and get over my fears. A very terrible one I must say. I told myself, “This can’t be hard. You’ll be dealing with a community that is uneducated and illiterate, bet they’ll listen to every word you have to say”. An extremely shallow mind-set. The kind of mind-set that certainly needed change. Fear has a big shadow, and mine came in form of negative coping methods, even in other situations. I would soon learn humility from these so-called ‘uneducated people’ who in so many ways have shown me just how significant they really are. My community has rendered me speechless in many times than I can count. They are rich in in knowledge, dignity, discernment, leadership in depths I can only admire. I have come to find out there’s so much more I can learn and it is not from a professor or a philosopher’s book. It is instead from modest human beings who have managed to find purpose in the smallest of things. My mind-set has since transformed from the divided view of people; from the negative coping mechanisms and views that made me see the world in unbalanced scales. I have a different perspective now, one I believe will take me a long way in life and I have CorpsAfrica to thank for that. There is no lesser or more, there is only diversity and there is beauty in diversity in its entity.
Too much has changed in such a little time. In precisely two months and three weeks I can confidently talk about mind-set change. CorpsAfrica is big on mind-set change. We had this intensive training about how mind-set change is paramount in community development, and how to be a catalyst for mind-set change in our respective communities. Little did I know mine was a mind in need of urgent change. My personal growth as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer? Beyond imaginable. I am not going to talk about how my integration has been excruciating to say the least. Sorry to disappoint. Maybe next time, probably next time. I am going to tap a little into the concept of humility and how I literally fell face front into it. How I have found myself needing validation from the ones the world has come to call "proletariats?". But listen, this approval is not an illusion. It is indeed credited.
When I thought about going to my site, Mpalale, Dedza, my stomach turned upside down, every time. I wanted to be excited about the new experience and everything that came along with it but my fears overcrowded me. I developed a coping mechanism to try and get over my fears. A very terrible one I must say. I told myself, “This can’t be hard. You’ll be dealing with a community that is uneducated and illiterate, bet they’ll listen to every word you have to say”. An extremely shallow mind-set. The kind of mind-set that certainly needed change. Fear has a big shadow, and mine came in form of negative coping methods, even in other situations. I would soon learn humility from these so-called ‘uneducated people’ who in so many ways have shown me just how significant they really are. My community has rendered me speechless in many times than I can count. They are rich in in knowledge, dignity, discernment, leadership in depths I can only admire. I have come to find out there’s so much more I can learn and it is not from a professor or a philosopher’s book. It is instead from modest human beings who have managed to find purpose in the smallest of things. My mind-set has since transformed from the divided view of people; from the negative coping mechanisms and views that made me see the world in unbalanced scales. I have a different perspective now, one I believe will take me a long way in life and I have CorpsAfrica to thank for that. There is no lesser or more, there is only diversity and there is beauty in diversity in its entity.
Participating in a community meeting with a women's savings group.
Taking a photo with a community during home visits.
Women grinding local snacks while passing time.
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