Going into World Camp, my plan was simple: go to college, get a degree, then work for a charity in order to aid the less fortunate. This had been the plan for years, and as far as I could tell, it would remain so. And then I went to my first Malawian school. I went in to teach the kids, but instead found myself learning and receiving, just as much as I was giving. They talked about their cultures, values, their views of azungus (foreigners), their morals, practices, and motives. A whole new world was opened to me, an entirely fresh perspective with which to view everything. It was within that school, within those first few hours, that my plan- my solid, rock-hard, immobile plan- took a one-eighty. Creating change is not about the haves giving to the have-nots. Creating change is about finding a junction where different cultures with different resources and knowledge and beliefs and solutions can come together and mutually give and take. That is where progress can spawn and issues can be resolved.
World Camp emanates this perfectly. While I did not recognize it at first, too full of my own untried notions, after I came to the realization myself, it became obvious that the way the curriculum is built, with the subjects of HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation and gender being discussed instead of lectured, supports and exemplifies this ideal. I have heard it mirrored in coordinators and volunteers alike, all of whom have either been affected by the program or have come to these conclusions individually, and hence have teamed up with World Camp knowingly, so that they too could be a part of the change that is being created here, day by day, discussion by discussion.
Submitted by: Elena Clark, Malawi SS2 Intern
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