Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Mr. Dingaan Kafundu

Just Do It” – Nike.

Before my CorpsAfrica service began, there was just so much that I wanted to achieve and had so many expectations. Five months in and there’s been quite a lot of crossing out and editing of this list and I’ve ended up coming up with a “Bucket List” of sorts that I hope to get done by the end of my service. There are going to be a lot of changes to this list, but there are three things I definitely will not be changing. So, here goes…

1.EXPLORE

Exploration is something I’m really passionate about and where better to do that than a new place. My bouts in exploration have already started on a low scale; I’ve been through a couple of forests and down a couple paths, but I want to go beyond. I want to just simply wake up one Saturday morning, grab my toothbrush, some tinned food, my matches, toss them into my backpack, hop on my bike, head out into the ‘great outdoors,’ and not return until Sunday afternoon. I’ve seen enough survival shows to think I can pitch my own make-shift tent and make it through the night., and so I’m definitely looking forward to that little bit of courage on that Saturday morning.
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Maybe that mountain/hill could be a pretty cool camp-site

2. DO SOMETHING NEW WITH THE LOCALS
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Now this is something that I have been doing and want to keep doing because, quite frankly, it’s pretty darn fun. You can’t fight the fact that nerves will kick in whenever you want to try something new, especially with a bunch of people watching you in awe, but you just got to swallow it up and enjoy the whole thing. Whether it’s joining in the festivities at a local wine ‘bar’, riding a ngolo (ox cart) for the first time, or planting your first ever batch of potatoes. There’s not many thrills that beat trying something new, whether you fall flat on your butt or triumph, you just have to do it.

. TAKE THE KIDS OUT ON A TRIP

Let’s just get one thing straight here, when I say ‘kids’, I don’t mean my own kids, that’s still a couple years away from happening. I mean the kids from the local primary school in my community. I’ve been there a couple of times and they are some of the most angelic faces and fun loving kids you could ever meet. A simple walk through the school and all you’ll see are smiles guiding you along the corridors. The problem is, most of them will simply spend their whole childhood and adolescent lives in the constraints of the village, so I made it my goal to take a group of kids to experience something new. Something they definitely will not forget. A field trip of sorts, maybe educational, or maybe just downright fun.

These are just some of the things I would love to be able to do outside of my main duties, responsibilities and projects here. And people do often say that sometimes if you really want to do something, don’t think about it. Instead, it’s best to, well, JUST DO IT.