Just to let you know, I have never written a blog in my life, so this is all new, but bare with me, I will try my best. I will be hoping to post regularly about my experience and about the work I will be doing, while also showing the attractive nature of the country. Now, just to give you a quick insight into what this blog is about, im going to do a quick introduction about what this adventure is all about.
Where? On the 31st of August I depart to Lilongwe, Malawi, travelling a whole 24 hours. Now you might just ask where the heck is Malawi, well just to let you know, I had the same reaction when I first saw this placement. Well just to explain a little bit about Malawi. Malawi is in the southern part of Africa, bordering to Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. The country lies on the lake called Lake Malawi, which makes up roughly 75% of the eastern border of Malawi. Researching more and more into Malawi, i have read what for a nice country it is, how different the landscape can be and it having a very diverse range of species there. This really intrigued me to see what this country is like and so I decided to apply to Volunteer.
How? So I found out about Malawi through researching around about doing a gap year as a volunteer. I stumbled across an organisation called Lattitude Global Volunteering. On researching about the country of Malawi, I decided to apply to their placement starting September 2017. And yes, I had to apply, as the organisation only wants to take volunteers with them which are dedicated and that can embody their mission of "providing opportunities to volunteer abroad and to make a positive difference to the lives of others through a distinctive, challenging, structured and supported overseas volunteering experience in a culture and community different from their own." So anyway I applied, had an interview with the project manager based in England and then with the country manager based in Malawi. After those interviews I was accepted onto their program and I was a step closer to heading to Malawi. If you are interested about the organisation, the link to their website is on the left. Go check it out and maybe volunteering interests you. (www.lattitude.org.uk) Anyway, with me being accepted, it meant I had to start planning my trip by buying insurances, flights and making sure I have all the equipment required.
So now that was it with the brief introduction. If you want to know more about why I decided to do volunteering, keep reading the blog as I will touch on that subject throughout different posts.
At the start of August I received my placement information. I will be placed in Ngara, a small village in the Northern part of Malawi, only about 80km till the Tansanian Border. I will be situated there for 10 months, working at the local health centre helping the people in the community who have health problems or injuries, however, it will be the minor injuries as the health centre is not equipped like a big hospital in the city. So that will be my placement where I will stay the most of my 10 months. I will be working together with locals to help locals. So anyway, I don't want to talk to much about the place I am going yet as I haven't actually been there before. So I will give a better insight as soon as I actually live there. As well, I am hoping of travelling through Africa and see the culture and landscapes that the continent has to offer.
SO I know this post was not so interesting but bare with me, it will get better :)
