Tomorrow Mariah and I will be en-route to Malawi!  I have to share that I am very much excited by the opportunity to travel to Malawi and spend the next 4 weeks working with the local team there. In order to understand a little about what I will be doing in Malawi, I need to explain a little of the structure of how Hands at Work operates. Community Based Organisations (CBO’s) The first level of Hands at Work are the Community Based Organisations (CBO’s).  These are the Care Workers on the ground – and are my heroes! – who day

Apologies for the lack of posts these past couple of weeks.  Honestly I am not so sure where the past 2 weeks have gone!  It is incredible that we find ourselves already at the end of our 5 week orientation program.  Only 5 weeks ago we found ourselves, 8 new volunteers from all across the globe – US, UK, CAN, AUS – a group of strangers with a common passion for Africa.  5 weeks down the track we have laughed, cried, experienced ups and downs, saw things that have broken our hearts over and over again, have been impacted in

There are two stories I will share with you from our Community Stay weekend.  What was planned…and what actually occurred.  There is a phrase we often refer to in Africa – TIA or “This Is Africa”.  It’s thrown around a lot when things don’t go exactly as planned / plans change last minute / miscommunications occur that result in different outcomes to what you expected etc.  (Those who have travelled or lived in Africa will know what I mean! :-))  It’s something I have come to relax into in Africa, to not be surprised when plans change right at the

This weekend we have come to the part of our orientation program known as Community Stay.  It means that from Friday through to Monday we will be staying out in the community with a family – either an orphan headed household or with a Gogo who is caring for orphans. For the 4 days and 3 nights we will do what they do.  We will get a glimpse of what it is like to walk in their shoes.  We will try to understand just some of the challenges they experience on a daily basis, we will muddle through language and