Written by CorpsAfrica/Maroc Volunteer Ms. Ahlam Bentaj 

As an only child, it was difficult to leave my jammed house and head to a remote area somewhere. It was the last night in MY soft comfortable and accustomed bed, that night I felt the feeling I used to on the Eid day (religious holiday). I felt a sweet-sour cocktail of excitement fear and ambiguity, I wished the morning came before its time and it really did!

As I got myself ready for the journey, making the last check, my mom made breakfast for me. I ate it with shaking hands my honey-coloured cat was invited to eat her favourite food but she stared at me for a long time, hesitating to go to have her breakfast too, like she knew its time!!!

It's time to go my mom announced. I stepped out of my home and the journey has begun!

During my first days a fluent Arabic lady asked me, after she knew my hometown, which is 467km far from my site, "Did you really come from far away to help us?" My answer may sound harsh but expressive, "If I had the chance to serve nearby my hometown within a community I belong to I wouldn't come." Hopefully she got the intended meaning then she said "We are blessed by your arrival," immediately inviting me to her house. She’d said later on I have called them my people. The somewhere has already become my town.

I wrote these words under three blankets covering every inch of my body from the coldest weather I ever faced; I hope you're feeling their warmth.

Written by CorpsAfrica/Rwanda Volunteer Ms. Ndakwizeye Mpuhwe Honorine

Dear Readers,

I would like to share with you the happiest part of my life, which is serving the community as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer in my Country, Rwanda.

I was a fresh graduate, honestly, I wished to have a permanent job. I even found one in my chosen career, but I've been dreaming of helping people my whole life. Everything changed after seeing a volunteer application link. My passion took a hold of my heart and I applied. Fortunately, I was chosen after passing the interview. I made a hard decision, which every one of my friends doubts except my family.

We started with PST (Pre-Service Training), which was to last for one month. Because of Covid-19 we were not allowed to go outside of the training site. I thought I would feel bored but what we learned, the skills we gained (which I wouldn't find anywhere else), and the people I met (whom I call my other family now) made that time very wonderful. I miss it even now. I used to help by giving direct solutions to problems but in PST I learned how to give long-lasting solutions, which will  make sustainable impact in people's lives.

After PST we were given a few days to prepare ourselves before being deployed. During these days I was curious of one thing -- where I will go to serve. Everything happened so fast and finally I left PST site heading to my serving site (Huye District). We reached there in the evening and I found myself in a place with no electricity. That was not a big issue for me since I was fully eager to serve in such a place. I met with my new host family and new people at a new place that I now call home. Frankly speaking, I was curious about what my next day will look like. With my head on the pillow, I just started questioning my mind: How will I introduce and adapt myself into this community? What will I do tomorrow and where will I start?

Truly, I can't thank enough my host family (mother and son). They received me with open hearts and we got along well so much faster than I expected. Surprisingly, some neighbors thought we knew each other before! This may sound unbelievable, but it is real. My host family became my other family. I really found another mother and elder brother in them; they call me their daughter, too.

The first activity I participated in was an international rural women's day event. What an amazing celebration! I can't forget how my heart felt after seeing the people of that community so happy despite all their problems! We sang and danced together traditional songs and at last I introduced myself and why I came there. On the same day, we did a community project where I helped by put putting clay in a chosen home and designed a simple kitchen garden for them. I really enjoyed these activities and that's when all my questions I asked myself that night were solved and next days until now got so much easier because almost everyone knows me. I attended another community meeting, which happens every week and aims to solve people's issues. That was another chance where I got know my community's needs, problems and resources, which gave me the image of this community and made my integration period so perfect.

I haven't been here for so long, but people take me as one of their neighbors. We talk freely, they ask me to visit them, and they are very excited, and they can’t wait to learn more about CorpsAfrica's approaches. I am also looking forward to hearing their ideas and opinions, because in the few days I have spent in this community I came to realize that they are stronger than I think, and everyone has the ability to change his/her life for the better. The only thing needed is just a little push and empowerment, which is what I will do as a volunteer.

Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Ms. Grace Sichinga

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”  – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Expect the unexpected.” I am sure that many of us have heard this phrase, if not used it a couple of times. My experience getting to my site two weeks ago truly gave this phrase its meaning.

I was in the first phase of deployment. Deployment day couldn't have come any quicker. That day, I woke up nervous and expected that I would be spending my first night with my host family. Prior to that day, I had already started picturing my site and forming expectations. My host family consisted of a teacher (host Mother), and my host Father is ‘a mfumu’ (chief). I later learnt that he is not a chief in the typical sense. 
 
The plan was to drop two Volunteers in Machinga and Zomba. I was going to be the last to be dropped off. Before leaving and during the trip we were trying to get in contact with our host families. However, my host family could not be reached all day, so we left Lilongwe with the hope that by the time we were in Zomba, we would have been in contact with them. 

It was around 7pm, when we had just made it to Zomba and we gave up calling my host family. I couldn’t make it to my site. I thought to myself ‘what if they have changed their minds, what did this mean for me? Would I have to go back home until they found me a new host family?’ 

Luckily, since there was another Volunteer in Zomba, I spent the night with her and her host family. Her host family was amazing. They received me with kindness, although I was not in their plans. After meeting them, I started to wonder if my family will be as welcoming.

Spending my night with her helped me to relax. The next day, my apprehension was back. Early that morning, my host family contacted us. So we started off at 06:30am and arrived there around 07:45am. I was nervous the whole way. When we arrived, I was welcomed by the host father and his sister-in-law.

I spent the day with his sister-in-law who is only a couple of years younger than myself. We bonded easily. We went to the borehole (well) to get water, then the market and we cooked. It was a great day and all my nerves were gone by the time it was midday. In the evening, it was a full house. The parents were back from work and children were back from school. The house was filled with warm welcomes and happy chatter. 

The family did not match my expectations, they surpassed them. I learnt that evening that the ‘a mfumu’ was just a title given to the host father because of how he relates and makes people feel in the community. He is actually a truck driver.

My first day in my community was nothing like I could have imagined, I even got the day wrong. This just reminded me that my service will be filled with so many unexpected events. These are the things we need to embrace, life is boring when we know what is to come. Embracing uncertainty will always leave you better off. 

Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Mr. Joseph Katsala

On the evening that I was told by the CorpsAfrica/Malawi Country Director that I had been placed in Karonga to Volunteer for the next ten months, my mind ran all sorts of imaginative iterations. I was literally shaken to the core. I had never really been in Northern Malawi (apart from my one-day trip to Mzuzu to my sister’s school), and the stories I had heard about that part of the country weren’t encouraging either. 

Days turned into weeks and before I knew it, I was in a Toyota Hilux with two other Volunteers, our luggage in the back, moving to the North. In the travel frenzy, we at times forgot we were relocating from the cities we knew to rural communities to start new lives. It’s surprising how you can want to do something and not want to do it at the same time.

Just as we started passing through Chikangawa, our car broke down and we had to wait for some two hours for help. During this time, and the next few hours being towed to Mzuzu, I had more than enough time to contemplate the fates that awaited the three of us in our respective sites across Rumphi, Karonga and Chitipa. After spending a night in Mzuzu, we arrived in Rumphi to drop off one of my fellow Volunteers in the village that was soon to be her home. As we bade farewell, I could see the anxiety on her face as she was being left, probably hundreds of kilometers away from her closest relatives to live with people of a different culture and language. Passing the grass thatched houses, maize fields, and curious eyes, as we sped on, the dusty road gave me a perspective of what probably awaited me in Karonga. 

Upon entering Karonga, the heat was apparent, the smell of fish unavoidable; reality of what was about to happen was slowly creeping upon me. My anxieties made me wish for a magical fast-forward button that would take me to the end of my service just at a single press.

Before three o’clock in the afternoon, we reached my site and we were warmly welcomed by my host family, the development officer, and the chief. Even though I could not understand every Tumbuka (local community language) word and phrase they said, I did manage to catch a few including; happy, welcome, feel-free, and home. It felt as though they were happy to see me. As I muttered to myself, ‘This will probably not be as bad as I thought,’ I remembered the quote; “We suffer more in our imagination than in reality.” Nevertheless, let me not get ahead of myself, it has just been a few weeks into my ten month stay.