A volunteer’s perspective of FOCHTA’s work in Luchenza
Ruth Weissenberg lived in Luchenza between November 2011 and February 2012 tutoring mathematics to FOCHTA beneficiaries. Here’s her frank perspective:
“I’m so glad I went to Luchenza to work wih FOCHTA. I offered to tutor maths for 3 months (I stayed for a fair while longer but some of that was holidays including an amazing 5-day hike up Mount Mulanje which I’d recommend to anyone - so I only taught for the planned 3 months). The need for academic assistance was huge, so in addition to weekend tutoring for the FOCHTA high-school beneficiaries, Amadu the manager there, also arranged for me to take over the Form 3 maths classes at 2 local high schools. Even as a person who grew up in Africa (in neighbouring Zimbabwe), I was shocked at the low level of facilities at the schools and the sheer number of students in each class - over 100 pupils in a room with very few desks/tables, almost enough chairs to go around but a lot of those were broken, a blackboard that had seen far better days, no lighting so that on dull rainy days most students couldn’t see much anyway, and no text books other than maybe one for the teacher.
Other needs were huge too – most of the people I met operated at a subsistence level . Their concerns centred around food, shelter, education. So although I saw a fair bit of ambition, there really wasn’t the oportunity for them to expect anything much more than the very basics. That aspect was sad, but mitigated by strong and positive community values.
Everywhere I went in Malawi, people were wonderfully open and kind and welcoming. My biggest thanks of course go to the FOCHTA personnel who made my stay so interesting and comfortable – Elizabeth whose home I lived in gave me genuine friendship and a taste of everyday life in Luchenza as well as all my meals; Henry and Wezi who welcomed me into their family whenever I took the minibus in to Blantyre; Steven and Faines who introduced me to all the warmth and laughter in their extended family, and arranged for me to spend a morning in a local clinic; all my students who worked hard, made my role such fun, and got so excited at each breakthrough we achieved; the schools that welcomed me; my regular bicycle-taxi rider who told me stories as we rode to and from school; and everyone in the FOCHTA office who made my life as easy as possible, and who showed me the diversity of wholistic programs that FOCHTA runs ……..I was taken to the farm, to a library in an outlying school, to a couple of the gogoz communities where the grandparents are given assistance, to the building site for the upcoming vocational training centre, and introduced to some of the past and present FOCHTA university beneficiaries. That diversity of programs means that FOCHTA provides a wide-ranging approach, and is the reason I think FOCHTA is so brilliant at what it does.
For those of you contemplating volunteering with FOCHTA, I want to reassure you that I felt utterly safe at all times (except when I took the local long distance bus through northern Mocambique - I was en route to a luxurious Christmas break in Zimbabwe and Botswana.) It was tough living a completely African lifestyle after all the comforts that we take for granted back home, and energy-sapping living in the mid-summer heat, but the whole experience was incredibly rewarding. There is so much we can do, and so much appreciation for any practical help that we offer. If any of you have the opportunity to go and help, grab it with both hands.”