Volunteering in Africa Offers the Gift of Understanding
Brett, Humphreys, & Catherine
Catherine E. Scantlin, Coordinator of High Country Women's Fund, recently spent more than a month with her husband volunteering in Africa. Following is the story – in condensed version - of her amazing journey and a special gift she received along the way.
My husband, Brett and I spent the first five weeks of 2009 in Malawi, Africa, working for World Camp Inc., a non-profit, educational organization created in 2000 by ten college students, five of them classmates of mine from Watauga High School (Baker Henson, Jesse Pipes, Courtney Queen, Tara Flannigan and Laurel Crosswell). World Camp brings college and high school students and interested professionals from the US to teach about HIV/AIDS, nutrition, environmental awareness, gender equality, and human rights. In just nine years World Camp volunteers have taught over 35,000 children in 200 rural schools, street shelters, and orphanages in Malawi, India, and Honduras.
Brett and I always had wanted to travel to Africa, but felt strongly that we wanted to do so only if we could volunteer and give back to the people there in some way. We approached World Camp once we committed to raising money to do this. We offered Brett’s skills as an engineer/contractor and mine as counselor. We loved the idea of helping an organization that in some ways has its roots right here in Watauga County. They took us on as program coordinators/house parents for the January session in Malawi.
During orientation we learned statistics about Malawi that shocked and poised us for the next four weeks working in rural schools. There are 100,000 new HIV infections in Malawi every year, and someone dies of AIDS every five minutes. In a country the size of Pennsylvania with a population of 13 million, there are an estimated 1 million orphans, one half of those because of HIV/AIDS related factors. Two-thirds of Malawians earn less than $1 US dollar a day. Only 2% of the population has electricity. We finished orientation ready to teach the creative and interactive World Camp curriculum to this population that seemed, in our arrogance, to have much to learn.
I soon found, as with most volunteer opportunities, I was about to learn way more from Malawi than I could even think about teaching! Once I shifted away from the idea that I was there only to educate the people of Malawi, I created space within myself to discover so many lessons from this culture.
The people we met live a very hard life, with little to show for it (at least by our measures), but I was struck daily by the different kinds of richness and wealth they possess that we “westerners” often lack - or have forsaken in our quest for possessions and status. What they lacked in material goods and creature comforts they more than make up for in joyful spirit and in the support they have and give each other through a strong network of family and community.
One of the Malawian translators we worked with, Humphries Mkandawire, was often my source for these lessons. We had many long and interesting conversations during our trip about topics such as religion, music, books, culture, family, etc. He was very patient while explaining all sorts of things about Malawian culture, and took every opportunity to ask and learn about our thoughts and ideas on Western culture.
One day on the bus I started a discussion with Humphries about the concept “ignorance is bliss.” It was early in the trip and I was really beginning to wonder if this notion was as shortsighted as I had often dismissed it in the past. I kept wondering if the good we were trying to do was worth the angst we might cause the villagers when they started the inevitable comparisons between themselves and what they saw in us. They saw us drive up in three trucks, and climb out in clean clothes without holes, sturdy shoes, sunglasses, visors, cameras, hand sanitizer, and snacks. Even though World Camp offers a different model of western offerings, i.e., education instead of enabling, teaching people how to fish instead of giving them fish - the villagers still saw us as the givers of food, money, and things. Our white skin and foreign ways represent to them wealth, abundance, and easeful living.
I wondered if these villagers were better off not seeing what we have so they could stay sheltered, thankful, and joyful about what they did have. I was also chewing on the idea of hosting students from Malawi in our home in the US and wondered what it would be like for them to come from these primitive villages, live in the relative comfort and luxury most of us enjoy, and then go back to their lives in Malawi.
Would these villagers and students be any better off from these types of education and experience, or would they suffer more from seeing or living another way of life? Would they ever again be able to live in the peace and contentment I witnessed and often envied in their lives?
These were the questions I posed to Humphries as I debated this “ignorance/bliss” notion. Humphries turned the questions around on me. He asked if I thought I would be changed from what I was seeing in the villages. I said of course I would. He asked if I felt frustrated and motivated to change and create change. I said of course I did – I was already changed. He asked if it would have been easier for me to ignore all of this if I had stayed sheltered in my life at home. I said of course. He asked if I regretted being challenged by this new perspective. I said most definitely not. He asked if I believed I would be a better person for this exposure and the angst I was feeling. I said yes, I hope I will be.
Humphries explained that the experience of exposure to diversity is similar for both sides. He explained his belief that when we interact we’re both changed. We both see things that we never have before and are left with strong feelings of jealously, anger, injustice, frustration, guilt, hope, or hopelessness. Our work is to come to terms with these feelings in order to have peace. This work is our growth. We are all better from that exposure, that connection with each other, and the consequent growth.
Brett and I are beginning the long process of coming to terms with all that we have seen, learned, and felt. Humphries gave me the gift of understanding, and permission to feel all of the conflict we’re feeling. He helped me feel some peace, and he challenged me to continue to grow. I went to Africa to be a volunteer – to teach others. I do think we planted some seeds of change through education, but I believe what we really volunteered to do was to learn lessons that have and will continue to change our lives.”
To learn more about World Camp, Inc click to: www.worldcampforkids.org
My husband, Brett and I spent the first five weeks of 2009 in Malawi, Africa, working for World Camp Inc., a non-profit, educational organization created in 2000 by ten college students, five of them classmates of mine from Watauga High School (Baker Henson, Jesse Pipes, Courtney Queen, Tara Flannigan and Laurel Crosswell). World Camp brings college and high school students and interested professionals from the US to teach about HIV/AIDS, nutrition, environmental awareness, gender equality, and human rights. In just nine years World Camp volunteers have taught over 35,000 children in 200 rural schools, street shelters, and orphanages in Malawi, India, and Honduras.
Brett and I always had wanted to travel to Africa, but felt strongly that we wanted to do so only if we could volunteer and give back to the people there in some way. We approached World Camp once we committed to raising money to do this. We offered Brett’s skills as an engineer/contractor and mine as counselor. We loved the idea of helping an organization that in some ways has its roots right here in Watauga County. They took us on as program coordinators/house parents for the January session in Malawi.
During orientation we learned statistics about Malawi that shocked and poised us for the next four weeks working in rural schools. There are 100,000 new HIV infections in Malawi every year, and someone dies of AIDS every five minutes. In a country the size of Pennsylvania with a population of 13 million, there are an estimated 1 million orphans, one half of those because of HIV/AIDS related factors. Two-thirds of Malawians earn less than $1 US dollar a day. Only 2% of the population has electricity. We finished orientation ready to teach the creative and interactive World Camp curriculum to this population that seemed, in our arrogance, to have much to learn.
I soon found, as with most volunteer opportunities, I was about to learn way more from Malawi than I could even think about teaching! Once I shifted away from the idea that I was there only to educate the people of Malawi, I created space within myself to discover so many lessons from this culture.
The people we met live a very hard life, with little to show for it (at least by our measures), but I was struck daily by the different kinds of richness and wealth they possess that we “westerners” often lack - or have forsaken in our quest for possessions and status. What they lacked in material goods and creature comforts they more than make up for in joyful spirit and in the support they have and give each other through a strong network of family and community.
One of the Malawian translators we worked with, Humphries Mkandawire, was often my source for these lessons. We had many long and interesting conversations during our trip about topics such as religion, music, books, culture, family, etc. He was very patient while explaining all sorts of things about Malawian culture, and took every opportunity to ask and learn about our thoughts and ideas on Western culture.
One day on the bus I started a discussion with Humphries about the concept “ignorance is bliss.” It was early in the trip and I was really beginning to wonder if this notion was as shortsighted as I had often dismissed it in the past. I kept wondering if the good we were trying to do was worth the angst we might cause the villagers when they started the inevitable comparisons between themselves and what they saw in us. They saw us drive up in three trucks, and climb out in clean clothes without holes, sturdy shoes, sunglasses, visors, cameras, hand sanitizer, and snacks. Even though World Camp offers a different model of western offerings, i.e., education instead of enabling, teaching people how to fish instead of giving them fish - the villagers still saw us as the givers of food, money, and things. Our white skin and foreign ways represent to them wealth, abundance, and easeful living.
I wondered if these villagers were better off not seeing what we have so they could stay sheltered, thankful, and joyful about what they did have. I was also chewing on the idea of hosting students from Malawi in our home in the US and wondered what it would be like for them to come from these primitive villages, live in the relative comfort and luxury most of us enjoy, and then go back to their lives in Malawi.
Would these villagers and students be any better off from these types of education and experience, or would they suffer more from seeing or living another way of life? Would they ever again be able to live in the peace and contentment I witnessed and often envied in their lives?
These were the questions I posed to Humphries as I debated this “ignorance/bliss” notion. Humphries turned the questions around on me. He asked if I thought I would be changed from what I was seeing in the villages. I said of course I would. He asked if I felt frustrated and motivated to change and create change. I said of course I did – I was already changed. He asked if it would have been easier for me to ignore all of this if I had stayed sheltered in my life at home. I said of course. He asked if I regretted being challenged by this new perspective. I said most definitely not. He asked if I believed I would be a better person for this exposure and the angst I was feeling. I said yes, I hope I will be.
Humphries explained that the experience of exposure to diversity is similar for both sides. He explained his belief that when we interact we’re both changed. We both see things that we never have before and are left with strong feelings of jealously, anger, injustice, frustration, guilt, hope, or hopelessness. Our work is to come to terms with these feelings in order to have peace. This work is our growth. We are all better from that exposure, that connection with each other, and the consequent growth.
Brett and I are beginning the long process of coming to terms with all that we have seen, learned, and felt. Humphries gave me the gift of understanding, and permission to feel all of the conflict we’re feeling. He helped me feel some peace, and he challenged me to continue to grow. I went to Africa to be a volunteer – to teach others. I do think we planted some seeds of change through education, but I believe what we really volunteered to do was to learn lessons that have and will continue to change our lives.”
To learn more about World Camp, Inc click to: www.worldcampforkids.org
