CORPSAFRICA
  • Home
  • About
    • About us >
      • The Model
      • Human-Centered Design
      • Impact
      • Development Partners
      • Junior CorpsAfrica
    • Team >
      • Staff
      • Board of Directors
      • Advisory Council
    • Work With Us
    • Press
    • Videos
    • Testimonials
    • Contact us
  • Countries
    • Morocco
    • Senegal
    • Malawi
    • Rwanda
    • Ghana
    • Kenya
  • Volunteers
    • Meet the Volunteers >
      • Morocco Volunteers >
        • Group 1 Morocco
        • Group 2 Morocco
        • Group 3 Morocco
        • Group 4 Morocco
        • Group 5 Morocco
        • Group 6 Morocco
      • Malawi Volunteers >
        • Group 1 Malawi
        • Group 2 Malawi
        • Group 3 Malawi
        • Group 4 Malawi
        • Group 5 Malawi
        • Group 6 Malawi
      • Senegal Volunteers >
        • Group 1 Senegal
        • Group 2 Senegal
        • Group 3 Senegal
        • Group 4 Senegal
        • Group 5 Senegal
        • Group 6 Senegal
      • Rwanda Volunteers >
        • Group 1 Rwanda
        • Group 2 Rwanda
        • Group 3 Rwanda
    • Podcast - "My CorpsAfrica Story"
    • Featured Projects >
      • Dzaleka Basketball Court
      • Kitchen Gardens
      • Coronavirus Response
    • Featured Volunteers
    • Alumni Association
    • Apply
  • Events
    • Events >
      • PROJECTing Resilience
    • All Country Conference
  • Blog
  • Donate
    • Donate to CorpsAfrica
    • Pay It Forward Campaign
    • Holbrooke Campaign
    • Corporate Council for CorpsAfrica
    • Planned Giving
    • Amazon Smile

​A Hero in His Own Way

10/7/2020

1 Comment

 
Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Mr. Chiukepo Mwenechanya

It is a fact that youth unemployment is a global challenge and Malawi is not spared from this. Being in a rural community, youths are at a disadvantage because of limited employment opportunities. As a result, most youths from my site leave for South Africa every year in search of greener pastures. These hopefuls usually follow a relative who left earlier and help them settle in the new country and connect them to job opportunities. Those who remain home, after finishing their secondary education level, explore the little economic opportunities like farming, small-scale businesses and pieceworks for survival, while others just move around the village without a meaningful form of livelihood.

Chimzy (not his real name) is one such youth in my site who remained home after completing his secondary education. This was not by choice, but he had no one willing to meet the cost for him to travel to the rainbow nation. He felt unlucky and cheated as most of his peers travelled to South Africa promising to help him join them once they settle down but never hearing from them again.

As years went by, he tried different ways of keeping his head above the waters of abject poverty. Due to his hard search for a purpose in his life, together with his charming character, Chimzy was liked by many in the community. Thanks to the intervention of the Church under the program called LISAP (Livingstonia Synod AIDS Programme), the community chose him to be among a few beneficiaries of a scholarship to study Carpentry and Joinery at Phwezi Technical College. He chose this particular skill since his community had no skilled labour in that field and he saw this as an opportunity to start a business venture for his legacy.

After the training he returned home to set up the very first carpentry workshop in the community where he now makes furniture for clients within my site and beyond. Realizing the plight of youth in the area, he volunteers to offer free training to interested youths to learn about carpentry. Years after launching the workshop, he has taken several apprentices under his wing and taught them the skills. Passing by his workshop, a group of youth can always be found observing and trying out carpentry skills and it is always amazing to see him sharing lessons to a bunch of knowledge-thirsty youths trying to learn as much as they can.
Picture
Chimzy and one of his internees trying to make a living out of Carpentry and Joinery
Picture
Furniture locally Made by Mr. Chimzy
Picture
Mr. Chimzy standing next to his hand-made cupboard
1 Comment
Lucas Middleton link
7/11/2022 03:52:08 am

Thank you for writing this post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Support
    Welcome
    ​to the CorpsAfrica Volunteer Blog! 
    Get an inside look at the experiences of CorpsAfrica Volunteers in the field.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    RSS Feed

Picture