WORK

The work involved the construction of a foundation and walls for a primary school block at Kachere Primary School. The school did not have decent classrooms and, as such, they learned in classrooms built and roofed with grass. This left them vulnerable to the elements, disturbing classes and learning in a non child-friendly environment. Specifically the volunteers mixed sand, cement and water, were involved in the building process and transfered bricks from the oven to the construction site manually. Volunteers for this project therefore were requested to bring working boots, gloves and, where possible, a work suit..

LOCATION

The work took place in the southern part of Malawi in the rural outskirts of the City of Blantyre. The project venue offers very beautiful scenery as you drive down the green slopes and hills of the meandering road to the site and Chikhwawa district.

ACCOMMODATION, TRANSPORT AND MEALS

Accommodation was on site in some existing school buildings, with volunteers sleeping on the floors using portable mattresses.

Food was provided at the camp site. Cooking was done by the volunteers using a cooking rota.Volunteers at this project brought various recipes from their home countries to share and learned to prepare various international foods.

FUNDING FOR THE PROJECT

The materials for the building project were funded by the Char Char Trust and Culford High School in the UK. The Char Char Trust also held their own camp from 8th to 15th July 2010 involving 24 students who contributed personal resources to the Char Char trust for this project.

WORK

The camp involved creating awareness among the national and international World Heritage Volunteers through a three day workshop on the importance of conserving World Heritage sites and the importance of Lake Malawi as a World Heritage site.

The workcamp then moved on to train local tour guides so that they include the world heritage importance of Cape Maclear in their interaction with international tourists. Additionally, the workcamp and involved sensitisation of the community around the site on the importance of conserving the World Heritage site.

The work involved repainting the accommodation facilities within the national park, as well as the above mentioned community education work.

Finally the project will help build synergies among stakeholders in world heritage site management: including the Ministry of Tourism, National Parks and Wildlife, National Commission of UNESCO, Department of Youth, National Youth Council of Malawi, AYISE as the implementing agency, the site management institution and the communities.

LOCATION

The activity will take place at Cape Maclear of the Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi National park was declared a World Heritage Site largely for its aquatic diversity. Lake Malawi is the largest Rift Valley Lake in the Southern part of Africa, naturally formed millions of years ago due to the sinking of the earths crust.

ACCOMODATION, TRANSPORT AND MEALS

Accommodation was in the rondavels in the national park itself, a beautiful lakeshore location surrounded by trees and playful baboons! Food was prepared by volunteers on a rota basis.

FUNDING FOR THE PROJECT

Funding was arranged through in-kind donations from the various stakeholders mentioned above.

WORK

The volunteers worked at the Bangwe Youth Centre (BAYOC) painting the wall of the summer huts where youth coming to the centre usually sit when conducting discussions or studying. 

ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD

The international volunteers were accommodated (self-catering) at the AYISE guest house in Bangwe within the AYISE office campus. Local volunteers were accomodated at their homes. The volunteers prepared their lunches while at the youth Centre.  Volunteers brought recipes from their home countries for the purposes of cross-cultural understanding and general integration of people from diverse backgrounds.
 
LOCATION

The project will be located in Bangwe 15KM away from the Blantyre City Centre. The work / project site will be at the Bangwe Youth Centre which was built by AYISE and is still run by AYISE. AYISE's guest house and offices are also located in the same community.

WORK

Clearing scrub vegetation from the selected area of land, levelling platforms in that area, filling plastic tubes with an appropriate mix of different soils, and planting various tree seeds into the soil.

FOOD

Snacks will be provided, but the workcamps will finish each day in time for the volunteers to return home for lunch.

 
ACCOMMODATION

International volunteers will be accomodated at the guesthouse in the AYISE compound.

LOCATION

Bangwe Youth Centre, around a 45 minute walk from the AYISE compound.