The Warm Heart of Travel

So often, when people think of Africa, they think of poverty. They picture distended bellies, HIV/AIDS, malaria. When I think of Africa, I think of Malawi, also known as "the warm heart of Africa." I think of children's laughter and loving communities. I think of Mtendere Village and Natola Secondary School. I have been going to Malawi for the past couple of years, with plans on returning for years to come. My work has focused on working with and supporting an orphanage and school, building relationships and learning not only about the needs and struggles but also the strengths and successes. And when I travel to Malawi, I bring along with a group of volunteers. For I believe that solving problems requires firsthand experience of what those problems are, and team collaboration on how to address them. That is what first got me involved in humanitarian travel and what has inspired me to continue. Mtendere Village is an orphanage village in Lumbazi, Malawi. It is home to almost 140 children, all who have lost one or both parents. Famine, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, limited access to education and health care are devastating issues affecting the lives of so many in this country. Estimations show that around 1 million children, out of a country of 13 million, are considered orphaned and/or vulnerable. Mtendere Village, which means "Place of Peace" in Chichewa, provides its children with a community. It is a loving home where they are cared for by house mothers, where they receive three meals a day, and where education is set as a priority. Within this community, the problem that I am solving is two-fold. First of all, I am working together with the orphanage to understand the need. The solutions do not just come from me. They come from the trusting relationships that I have built with the community. I understand that I have much more to learn from them than they have to learn from me. So I ask and they explain. And together, we come to solutions. From my experience working with Mtendere Village, my focus has been on education, including creating a library, tutoring the children and house mothers, and most recently, collaborating to develop a plan for new classrooms. The problem is not the value of education. These children, probably more than anyone I know, understand the value of an education. The problem, though, is that the resources for a quality education are lacking. The community of Mtendere Village has inspired me to work with them to solve that problem. In order to enhance the effectiveness of that, the second fold of the problem I am addressing focuses on cultural exchange and volunteering. I believe that in order to address something as overwhelming as the lack of educational resources in Malawi, individuals need to come together. The world is getting smaller, and we need to learn about each other, experience each other’s cultures, eat each other’s food, and speak each other’s languages. That is why I bring groups of volunteers over to Malawi with me. I want the volunteers and community of Mtendere Village alike to learn about each other by spending time with each other. From my experience, those interactions are the ones that make the biggest impact. They are the ones that keep people committed to supporting this community. It is the reason they raise money for projects, collect donations to deliver and go back time and again. The more we understand about each other, the more likely problems like limited education can be solved.