VOLUNTEERS FACE YFC CHALLENGE!!

Youth work, youth development, youth education! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH!

We’re loving this topic here in Choma, Zambia! For many of us it is at the heart of our future ambitions, it’s what gets us out of bed at 6am every morning and it’s what puts a smile on our dial!

One of the shining benefits of being placed within clinics is the access and opportunity to make an impact on Youth Friendly Corners (YFCs). These youth-led groups use a peer education system that allows young people to come together and tackle issues/concerns head on in a non-judgmental environment. Typical topics include safe sex, substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections.

In Choma, there are currently 4 YFC’s set up; Rail Surgery, Shampande, Choma Hospital and more recently, thanks to an awesome group of ICS volunteers, Prisons….(WAHEYY, GO PRISONS!)

Being part of the team at Rail Surgery we were lucky enough to take part and observe one of the most established YFC’s in the area in terms of membership. However, we soon learnt that numbers were declining and considering the many benefits of educating youths on such topics, we agreed that we couldn’t let this happen…

It was time to pump a little soul into our corner and make Rail Surgery YFC a pretty damn cool place to be!

One issue we noticed during previous sessions was the repetitive classroom methods of facilitation...*snores*…It became glaringly obvious that this was a golden opportunity to do something a little….different.

SO! Rail volunteers, along with a helping hand from Prisons, took it upon themselves to bang heads, explode ideas and create a bubbling concoction of insightful topics, fresh brains and pumping energizers that would hopefully spark and spread enthusiasm like wild fire!

Wednesday approached fast and while we were expecting our usual turnout of 15 faces, we jaw-dropped at the sheer sight of 35 curious youths walking through our door…our golden opportunity had become a LIVE or DIE conundrum and as we scraped our jaws off the floor, we nose-dived into one of our biggest challenges yet!

Despite the heat, the lack of space and the double-plus numbers we held an amazing afternoon of heated debates, passionate discussions, powerful presentations and of course, lots of laughter - all centered around the issue of Gender Equality.

2 hours flew by and the blood, sweat and tears of facilitating our biggest YFC to date was met with a round of applause, a thanks and more importantly…enthusiastic smiles J

 I for one, think we all deserve a huge pat on the back! Well done Rail Surgery and Prisons! We aced it guys!!!

Greetings from Zambia

Hi Everyone, and welcome to the blog of the VSO ICS Team 40 in Zambia. We are a group of 24, 18-25 year olds, from both the UK and Zambia, who are volunteering in a town called Choma in the Southern Province of Zambia for 12 weeks, to help combat the spread of HIV and AIDS, and to educate the local citizens on their reproductive health rights.

First of all, let me explain just what the VSO ICS exactly is. It stands for Voluntary Service Overseas,
International Citizen Service. The VSO is a non-governmental organization, based in the UK, who
offers aid to any country that requires it, in all sectors, ranging from sexual health, to poverty and
natural disasters. The ICS is an organization, specifically for young people, and was set up by 6 parent organizations, one of which is the VSO. The ICS aims to offer sustainable help to developing nations, whilst creating ‘global citizens’ from both the host and the visiting nations.

So on the 1st of March 2013, 12 British Volunteers flew from Heathrow and arrived at Lusaka airport to travel to Choma and meet our Zambian Counterparts. Whilst in Zambia, the 24 of us are staying in  host homes, meaning that one Zambian and one UK volunteer will be living, for 12 weeks, in the home of a local citizen. For the British volunteers, this is a huge part of the programme, as it means that it’s one hell of a lot easier to adapt to the culture, learn the language, and generally fit in, if you are living and breathing Zambian life 24/7.

Whilst here in Choma, the 24 of us have been divided between 6 different work placements, each
addressing different members of the community. If you’ve done the maths, you’ll have worked out that at each placement there are two UK volunteers and two Zambian volunteers. For four days of the week, we are working in our placements. This basically involves working in local health clinics, or giving talks to groups of young people on their reproductive health rights, and protection against the spread of HIV and AIDS. About once every two weeks, all 24 of us come together to do a Community Action Day, also known as a CAD. This essentially means that the entire group comes together and organizes a day in which we go into the community and contribute to the local development of Choma. One of the biggest problems that we have noticed whilst here is that of litter, and general lack of waste management. On our first CAD therefore, we are planning on doing a litter sweep of the main high street, and to request a budget from the council for general waste bins on the main road and in the market.

One of the issues that the volunteers, and particularly the UK volunteers, found, was that the culture in Zambia is incredibly different to that of the British Culture. Each volunteer has been given an opposite national counterpart, and so the Zambians are able to learn about British culture, and the British volunteers are able to get through daily life without mistakenly insulting half of the population of Choma.

To get involved with VSO ICS, and for more info, visit www.vso.co.uk

Follow us at @ICSTeam40Zambia, and don't forget to like us on facebook.

Written by Claire Constance