My name is Greciano Hezekiah, a CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer serving in Emanyaleni community in Mzimba District, Malawi. When I arrived in Emanyaleni Community after completing six weeks of Pre-Service Training in September 2025,I carried two big realities with me: deep excitement and real uncertainty. Emanyaleni is a Tumbuka-speaking community, while my mother tongue is Chichewa. From day one, I quickly realised that this journey would be less about what I came to “do” and more about how willing I was to listen, learn, and live with the people. Those first days marked the beginning of a humbling and life-shaping experience.

Integration became my classroom. I joined farmers in their gardens along Kasito River, weeded maize fields, learnt irrigation practices, attended funerals, watched football matches, played bawo with youths at the market, and spent long afternoons in conversations that went far beyond words. Slowly, through gestures, broken language, laughter, and shared labour, trust began to grow. At the same time, I was welcomed into Emanyaleni Primary School and Engucwini CDSS, where I taught Mathematics, Science, Agriculture, and Computer Studies. Teaching fractions, decimals, seed dispersal, and soil conservation was not just about syllabi, it was about showing learners that someone believed in their potential. Beyond school hours, home tutoring sessions expanded from a few learners to over 50 children, and even secondary school students began joining. Education here is not a duty; it is a living hope in motion.

Community engagement soon deepened into community-led action. Through tools such as Human-Centred Design (HCD), Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), community mapping, seasonal calendars, and idea-identification processes, community members analysed their own realities and imagined their futures. Out of these conversations came clear priorities such as education, water, roads, food security, and economic empowerment. Youth and women’s groups formed or strengthened, choosing solutions that matched their assets: scone baking, mandasi production, bean trading, goat/pig farming, and savings groups. Watching young people and women move from “we lack” to “we can” has been one of the most powerful moments of my service so far. Even health awareness became part of this journey, as we engaged women and girls in breast cancer awareness campaigns, which broke their silence with knowledge and care.

As I reflect on these first months, I realise that Emanyaleni has been teaching me just as much as I have been teaching it. I am learning patience where language fails, humility where knowledge is shared, and purpose where community leads. This experience continues to remind me that sustainable development does not arrive with ready-made answers—it grows from people who are trusted, heard, and empowered.

This journey is still unfolding. I invite you to follow along, learn with me, and support community-led development which places communities at the centre of their own progress wherever you are. Sometimes, the most powerful change begins with showing up, listening deeply, and choosing to walk with people rather than ahead of them.