Volunteering in Africa

Southern Africa JF group in our awesome motorcycle helmets!

It was a challenging week of learning, growing, and bonding. Every day was filled with 12-16 hours of workshops and sessions! I had the opportunity to learn about agriculture, rural livelihoods, safety, impact models, messaging, participatory approaches, integration, and power and privilege to name a few.

There are a lot of workshops that stick out in my mind and I want to share a few takeaways from those workshops. On the first day we shared our hopes, fears, and dreams about our individual placements with each other. It was a relief for me to discover that all the things I was excited and scared about were pretty much the same for everyone else. Having so much in common and a lot of the same interests definitely helped us all to bond.

On day three we were split into two groups to do a role playing exercise, a community and an NGO. The community and the NGO were meeting together to discuss how the NGO could invest in the community so that the people in the village could lead more sustainable livelihoods. Each person in the role play had a different personality, set of limitations, and agenda. I was a micro-finance specialist with the NGO. We then had to come up with a project proposal for the community and present it to a donor committee. What surprised me was that after our meeting with the community it was very clear what the community wanted for their village, yet as an NGO we decided to propose to the donors to fund us for something else completely. There were a lot of factors that contributed to our decision, but it was a little scary that we knew what Dorothy wanted, but decided that it wasn’t what was best for her. Was it really our decision to decide what was best for Dorothy? Or should we have worked more with her to figure out what she really needed and make that work for her, her family, and her community?

One of the things I learned from the messaging workshop is to keep my blogs at a decent length and find out what you, my audience, is looking for from me! Since I have so much I want to write about, I’ve decided to break this post in two, so more about my pre-departure learning in my next post. In the meantime, leave me come comments about what you would like to see in my blog, what you are interested in hearing about, and how you would like things to be structured. I’ve got some ideas, but I want to hear from you first!

Good luck to all my lovely JF’s as you wait to leave Toronto!

Love Maria

My attempt at grounding the peanuts

Trevor teaching Keith how to properly ground the peanuts

Kate enjoying nshima!

Lucas couldn’t quite figure out how to eat it

Nshima!

Welcome to my blog! I will be using this blog for the next 4 months as I prepare to go overseas, and for the following 4 months as I complete my Junior Fellowship placement in Malawi on behalf of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada!

In my case, the Junior Fellowship program is a 20 month program. From January to August I will be preparing for my overseas placement and contributing to my chapter. I will then complete my 4 month placement in Malawi and will return home to be a leader in my chapter for another 8 months. Through my placement I hope to help connect my chapter to Africa and EWB’s overseas programs.

The goals of the Junior Fellowship program are threefold:
1. To create change in Canada
2. To create change overseas
3. To create change and learning for the Junior Fellow

While I know I will be going to Malawi, I do not yet know what my placement will be, but with only one month to go until pre-departure training in Toronto, the MUN chapter and I have started framing goals and expectations for my placement.

I am going to include my goals and expectations here for my chapter to reference, and so that I can be held accountable to them over the next 16 months.

Personal Goals

For Nushka

While preparing for placement:
– Be a leader in my chapter
– Do as much foundation and preparation work as I can
– Participate in Coffeeshop coaching with return JF’s
– Set expectations with the chapter
– Follow the placements of the summer JF’s

While overseas:
– Integrate into the community as best as I can
– Open communication between myself and the chapter
– Help create change in the water and sanitation sector in Malawi
– To learn as much as I can about Watsan, development, and poverty
– Interview lots of locals
– Build friendships with co-workers and my host family
– Learn about a new culture, new customs, and a new language. But to also share my culture as well
– Participate in community groups and events
– Learn about the role religion plays in the everyday lives of Africans and join the local church
– Bring a new point of view to the chapter, and educate members on EWB’s work in Malawi
– Have fun and love life!

Upon returning to Canada:
– Contribute to member learning and general meetings through sharing stories, experiences, videos, pictures, etc
– Give presentations about my placement to the chapter, the engineering faculty and as a part of youth engagement
– Mentor the new JF
– Do an awesome job on my innovation change project
– Inspire the chapter to a new level of commitment

My expectations of the Chapter:
– Continue mentoring with Evan and Nushka
– Open communication
– Keep in touch by reading my blogs, emailing, texting, and calling
– Keep me up to date on chapter functions
– Connect with me during at least one general meeting, and have questions prepared
– Give me feedback

The Chapter’s expectations of me:
– Keep the chapter informed on my placement
– Share experiences and update blog
– Keep in contact with the chapter
– Keep a journal
– Take lots of pictures, but actually do something with them that can benefit the chapter
– Put as much into the placement as I can
– Be safe and try not to get sick!
– Be a leader in the chapter when I return

This is quite a long post, but an important one! I appreciate comments, thoughts, and questions!

Love Maria