Connecting Community Engagement with a Global Mission

By World Camp Intern Rachael Thorn

World Camp’s United States headquarters are located in Asheville, NC, a small city known for its active local engagement and progressive ideas centered on community. As our focus lies on Malawian communities, it is necessary to understand how to motivate a tight-knit local community to become active in a far away community. Many people become more invested in projects when they are directly affected. For example, issues concerning climate change are more likely to be addressed when adverse effects are noticeable and affect one’s every day life. So, how do we connect community engagement with a global mission? What gets people passionate in engaging with an organization whose outcomes benefit those living in different parts of Malawi?

We should consider that the three aspects of community engagement involve decision-making, capacity building, and relationship development (Bang the Table). While these three facets are not mutually exclusive, a broader engagement relies most heavily on relationship development to engage citizens at a local level. Since the local community does not directly see the benefits of engagement, it is necessary for the lens to be widened to include a global vision and to redirect what a successful outcome looks like.

This is difficult, as modern psychology shows that humans are generally insensitive to scope. This means if you could save 1,000 birds by giving $80, you would not increase that amount proportionately if you were saving 10,000 birds. Since individuals are rather unaware of scope, the next approach to successful community engagement is outreach. If more people can become excited about the global vision, then the cumulative engagement will be more powerful than from a few individuals who will not be more driven to give by an ever increasing need. This is relationship development.

 Engagement through relationship development can come about by combining a few tools. These include: accessibility to information, clarity of mission and vision, providing welcoming and approachable events, implementing reward systems, and engaging with already present community staples. One of the best ways to keep the local community engaged is to make progress visible and current. Luckily, our globalized world can provide the reward of seeing the effects of donations or involvement almost instantly as pictures, videos, and online posts can keep donors updated on the successes that are happening everyday.
Stay connected to World Camp’s programs and projects, not only through this blog, but also on Facebook (World Camp Inc.) and Instragram (@worldcamp_Malawi).

Graphics from Bang the Table

Meet Nicole, our newest intern!

Nicole Bradley, a former World Camp volunteer, is interning with us at the World Camp Asheville office. She's been helping with recruiting, writing blogs and research for us. Nicole is majoring in International Studies with a minor in African studies and a focus on gender roles in rural Africa, particularly Malawi.

Check out her interview below!

Where's your hometown?

I am from Rutherfordton, NC which is just about an hour away from Asheville.

How did you end up at World Camp?

Well I actually volunteered in Malawi over the summer 2011. I found out about it through the Study Abroad Fair at University of North Carolina Asheville and have been basically obsessed ever since. I really wanted to stay involved with World Camp when I got back, and since most of the programs go along with my major and undergraduate research, interning seemed to fit perfectly.

What do you do when you're not busy at World Camp?

I’m super busy. I’m trying to graduate a semester early, so school takes a lot of my time. I also work part-time at Target. Between UNCA and Target, it feels like I’m never home. I do love to sing and write music with my teensy free time.

What aspect of World Camp are you most passionate about?

I am most passionate about World Camp’s empowerment program. As a past volunteer, the empowerment program is the one that I felt held the most weight when I volunteered. The girls always seemed so excited to sit in our circle, and they had so many questions. It’s just so inspiring to talk to see them interact, and how the empowerment could affect them in the future.

What's your favorite thing to do in Asheville?

I love Asheville’s downtown scene. When I get time, I try to experiment with all the unique delicious food you find there. I also love to catch live music when I can.

What has been your favorite thing to work on at World Camp so far?

I haven’t been interning here too long, but I love researching for blog posts. I get to find out new and exciting information and share it with everyone!

What your hopes for the future of World Camp?

I’d love to see World Camp continue to grow their programs. The addition of Camp Hope is one that I find incredibly exciting; it is something that World Camp has added since I volunteered. Whether expanding their programs in Malawi, or even expanding to other countries eventually, I think that World Camp does such amazing work; I’d love to see it reach more people.

in the field: last goodbyes

As our last week comes to a close there is an odd mix of emotions stirring in the World Camp house. It feels like the house itself is emitting an emotion of its own, as if it is sad to see us go yet it is still full of energy. The feeling that is the most prominent while everyone is rushing to pack their things and do last minute shopping is eerily similar to our first week in the house when everyone was in, trying to learn as much as they could while getting used to each other, the house, and the environment.  It almost seems as if we have come full circle, except instead of ten strangers trying to get to know each other it is ten close friends saying their last goodbyes to everything that only a short time ago was completely foreign. As a group, we have gone through more together in these four weeks than most friends do in years. Living in confined quarters for an extended period of time with nine people you have never met before is no easy task, now add homestays, teaching, and minibus rides into the mix.

I unfortunately did not book the same return flight as everyone else and am staying a day later. This resulted in a completely unexpected feeling as I watched a group that I have come to know and love leave as I return to an empty house. It was as if the house that just moments before had been filled with so much life was drained of it. The house was quite, startlingly quite. It felt almost unnatural. This only serves to amplify how great our time here in Malawi was. It serves as a reflection - time to think about all of our experiences that we have had together. I feel honored that I was able to participate in this wonderful program with nine phenomenal people. I will cherish the moments we have all had together for a lifetime and I do believe all of us will be lifelong friends.

I’m feeling magical!

- Maysam

New Directions

If three years ago someone would have told me what I would be doing now, I would have laughed and never believed it. Three years ago I was majoring in Political Science and was too scared to spend a semester studying abroad. The only traveling I had ever done was while on nice vacations, and I was pretty content with my life in North Carolina. After spending one summer doing summer school, I knew I should do something more interesting the following summer, and figured I would spend the summer studying in Europe, like what most of my friends were doing.

Yet a friend told me about her experience with World Camp and after hearing her stories I knew it was what I wanted to do. I had recently changed my major to elementary education and this opportunity just seemed to fit perfectly. I was a little nervous to go to Africa but I knew it would be more interesting than another summer of summer school.

The time I spent in Malawi with World Camp was an absolutely amazing, life changing experience. My time there made me look at the person I was and think about the person I wanted to be. So many aspects of the experience contributed to this self-evaluation, from my interactions with the students and people in the villages, to the things I saw, to the vast knowledge I acquired about real poverty in a Third World country and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The people I met were especially influential, both the Malawians and the other volunteers. I met so many people with interesting stories and fascinating life experiences. Hearing these accounts of extensive traveling, meeting people of all different cultures and backgrounds, and really seeing what the world was like made me question what I was doing with my life and I what I wanted to do with my life. All of the Malawians and other volunteers I met were such diverse, interesting, and amazing people and really made my World Camp experience very meaningful.

Within days of returning from Malawi, I knew I wanted and needed to go somewhere again after graduation. I had got a taste of what the world was like and all the different people out there. World Camp gave me the confidence and the desire to want to move to a developing country. A few months after World Camp, I was hired as a 1^st grade teacher at a school in the Dominican Republic and moved here in July 2010. I also volunteer at an activity center for street kids, and one program I have helped start is an HIV Education program. Living and working in a developing country is a challenge every day, but I absolutely love it and will likely be here for years to come.

I am so thankful to World Camp for opening up my horizons and really helping to change the course of my life. Without my experiences in Malawi with World Camp, I am 100% certain I would not be where I am today.

Submitted by: Sarah Gleason, WC Alumni 2009



**Part III in a series of impressions and memories of volunteering with World Camp. Please email submissions to info@worldcampforkids.org or katy@worldcampforkids.org. Journal entries & emails/letters home during your experience, pictures, etc. are encouraged!**

The Warm Heart

I had always wanted to visit Sub-Saharan Africa, and expected to enjoy it, but through World Camp, I not only had a good time, but also developed a unique connection with Malawi and its people. Malawi is full of experiences that will change you and leave you eager for more. This was certainly true for me. One of my most fond memories was connecting with my students through Chichewa, the local language. It took me a few weeks to develop working knowledge of Chichewa, but by my fifth week in Malawi, I could crack jokes, sing some songs, and even ask basic questions. My students loved the fact that an azungu, slang for a Caucasian person, could communicate with them. It was thrilling to see how open and excited these students were to gaining life saving information regarding HIV/AIDS and the environment. The experience left me driven to do more. I am grateful that World Camp allowed me to return to Malawi last January to explore new ways the organization can expand its outreach. I continue to help World Camp in the United States and am craftily sorting out how to get back to Malawi in the near future. My time with World Camp is unforgettable. It has shaped me and given me direction in future goals, and has also left me with a sense of connection to many people 8,000 miles away.

Submitted by: Andrew Beckman, WC Alumni 2009
(Andrew is also the son of David Beckman, who recently received The World Food Prize!)

**Part II in a series of impressions and memories of volunteering with World Camp. Please email submissions to info@worldcampforkids.org or katy@worldcampforkids.org. Journal entries & emails/letters home during your experience, pictures, etc. are encouraged!**

Connections Without Borders

I've been thinking a lot about labels and connections lately. (This is going somewhere, I promise.) Nearly two years of traveling and working abroad has provided a great deal of space to contemplate the notion of identity. Perhaps more than I would like at times. Surfacing again and again are the age-old and eternally unanswered questions, who are we? how or where do we fit in this world? what are we doing with our lives? The truth is, we begin this endless exploration of our identity when we're kids; we first recognize a concept of ourselves as individuals and eventually in relation to those around us.

Female. Male. American. Malawian. White. Black. In a relationship. Single. Married. Victim. Friend. Lover. Child. Parent. Unemployed. Employed. College graduate. Uneducated. Groupie. Musician. Healthy. Ill. Social worker. Accountant. Student. Voter. Politician. 

Malawi, Africa.  January 2010.

The labels we place on ourselves, or at times fall into, allow us to "know" ourselves and thus form connections with people around us. In some sense, this shapes who we are and what we are doing. At least for a given moment. Our identity, and our connections, are constantly defined and redefined by these labels. They shift depending on where we are, what we're doing, and who we're with.

For me those connections materialize most when I'm traveling. People often ask why I work with kids in India and Malawi when there are so many problems right here in the U.S., or why I choose to travel to Phom Penh when I haven't even been to my country's own capital? I never have a good answer, because I don't really know. For some reason I feel connected to certain parts of the world, inspired by certain groups of people, and angered more by certain "social" issues. 

Over time and through my work these connections seem to have defined me and what I am doing here. I have become an NGO worker, a foreigner living abroad. I build connections with empowerment groups because we share the label of being "women." I share understanding with kids in developing countries because we both have a concern of what it would mean to be HIV positive. My labels, my identity, have opened me to incredible experiences and connections around the world. 

And one of the things I LOVE about India (sorry boys), is the women. I was talking the other day with a friend's mom about relating to women in India and how they respond to us and World Camp's work there. How the sense of female camaraderie and spirit just permeates everywhere. A mother tucking a blanket around my feet on an overnight train. Rolling rotis in the kitchen and playing with spices. The smile a woman on the street gives me as she approves of my Indian dress (yet another label here--fitting in vs. unknowing tourist). Mothers shopping for bangles with their daughters. A conversation about educational opportunities for girls. Or giggling over the slimy lubrication during a condom demonstration.

Ahmedabad, India. July 2010.
Photo credit to volunteer Amanda Waldrop. 

My connection with women, and among women in India, was one discovered immediately on my first trip in 2005. It's one whose power continues to amaze me with each return. The welcoming spirit they have for those of us from far off lands (and lives).  Their physical and emotional strength to survive--nonetheless, succeed--in a world oppressive in so many ways. This connection, like so many other connections I've encountered abroad, breathes life into me while I'm there, yet I somehow worry will disappear when I leave.

The other day I was in a yoga class in my hometown--a beautiful little studio with views of the mountains and the lake, and, this time, a small group of 6 women. The theme for the class was "embracing change, being open to new things, and rooting in our gratitude for them." We practiced facing each other, and focused on heart-opening poses. Then came the handstands that then roll over into backbends. An incredible challenge to being open and embracing the fear of gravity.

One woman gently fell out of the pose, said it was too much, and tears began to flow. As we were rolling up our mats after class, she said she had no idea what came over her, just suddenly had to release. She thanked everyone for opening that space for release. None of us knew each other, but the rest of the group then exploded with conversation about how grateful they were that wherever we go there exists a kind of "female space." That space to release, to embrace overwhelming emotions--whether it be excitement and dancing or sadness and crying. How tough it must be for men not to have that (guys, feel free to challenge!).  How we were simply grateful to be...women.

I think when we travel we unconsciously open ourselves up to the world. To experiences and people. It's almost dramatic, really. And it comes so easily. We tend to guard ourselves when we are in places where people already know us, where we've already been labeled, where we're already comfortable.

That day, like so many of my experiences abroad and with World Camp, was a reminder of connection.  Of how, though our identity may be under constant re-definition, it doesn't mean connections aren't there.  And how those connections are what allows us to bring about (and perhaps more importantly, embrace) change.

Connections know no borders. They have an ability to transcend so many of the labels we place on ourselves and remind us that, at the core, we are all just human. That we have the same hopes and desires, that we share the same fears and sadness. And I think it is that very reminder that allows us to be effective in our work, whether it's here in the U.S. or across the ocean in Malawi.

World Camp reproductive and sexual health workshop. Pictured are Field Assistants Prerna Aroa & Prachee Shah with volunteer Kendall Strautman and women at Gramshree. Ahmedabad, India. July 2010. 

Written by: Katy Lackey, WC Coordinator


**Part I in a series of reflections on how we internalize what we learn abroad into who we are back home. Email submissions to info@worldcampforkids.org or katy@worldcampforkids.org. Articles, thoughts, poems, quotes, pictures, etc. are welcome!**

Sweaty Revelations

Our car wound its way through the bustling streets of Ahmedabad; jerking to and fro, dodging rickshaws, people and cattle. Our crew of four was on the way to a slum community called Ram Rahim to see some of the HIV curriculum in action as part of Orientation. As we neared the slum, the atmosphere of the streets shifted. We drove further and further; the width of the dirt road shrank between crooked brick houses and piles of trash. We finally parked and gathered our supplies. Curious eyes followed our every move. My senses were overwhelmed with sights, sounds and smells. Half naked children gallivanting about yelling, “hello lady!” Spices, incense, feces, decay wafted in my face. The air made you feel dirty.

We made our way through the shanty-town maze to the “school”, which was more like the roof of a family home, sheltered by a tin roof. A class of twenty boys of all ages sat buzzing at our presence. Songs and games proved difficult in the congested area but the boys seemed to enjoy the silliness. As Katy, Rina, and Prerna began the class, Sadie and I observed from the back; huddling by a creaking fan.

Buckets of sweat were running down our faces, backs and legs. All of our kurtis were completely drenched. The sweat is something we’ve all become accustomed to. I say “accustomed” with fluidity because although we are no longer embarrassed by sweat outlining the contours of our bras, the daily expulsion of salt and dirt from our bodies is accompanied by a rank smell which no amount of Tide can wash out. (Please note the sweat lines and subsequent undergarments visible on WC volunteers Jesse Pipes and Baker Henson below. We recommended enlarging this photo for full effect. Did we mention it's hot in India?)

The ruckus from songs and games drew little girls, mothers and their babies to the rooftop. The children's skin was covered in heat rash and gnat bites. A girl of fourteen or so named Jemna was living on the rooftop and looking after her two little brothers. She would lock eyes with me and giggle. We greeted as best we could, “Kemcho! Majama!” and the rest was body language. This is one time in life where I wish I could speak every language.

After an hour of curriculum I will admit, I was ready to leave. Teaching proved difficult with this population because they are not used to sitting and paying attention for so long in one attitude. Interesting to think of how the most difficult children to teach are the ones who need this information the most. 

The team packed up and hobbled into the streets again, children swarmed us. Jemna walked next to me and offered to carry my teaching bag. I of course declined so she took my hand and accompanied me to the car. Her face will forever be engraved in my memory. 

Driving back to the city, I started to grasp the harsh juxtapositions between wealth and poverty in 

India. The city felt clean, our apartment felt like a five star hotel. My heart ached for all those children. It torments me to think that we all got to leave, wash the slums off our bodies and souls, put clean clothes on, and all of those children are still in Ram Rahim. I wasn't strong enough to last three hours without feeling disgusting. Many questions arose in my heart; why am I so lucky? to be born in a culture where women have rights; where I've never had to worry about going hungry. It is difficult to comprehend how we come from such a land of abundance when we know that children are abandoned to rot in the slums, in 120 degree heat. 

I guess that is the answer to why we all came to India. To reach out to those children who deserve every opportunity to be educated. inspired. changed.

Written by: Kendall Strautman, India Volunteer 2010

India Arrivals

World Camp is back in action in India and things are heating up (and we don't just mean the weather, which by the way has been well over 105)! The past week was full of happy returns and excited arrivals. Stepping off the train from Mumbai, Rina Kojima was thrilled to return to World Camp for the 3rd time and Ahmedabad for the 2nd, as she joined Katy in finalizing camps, outreach projects, and cultural excursions.

A 4:40am flight from Qatar brought Kendall to us, a native Coloradan, and sister of a former Malawi volunteer. Kendall hit the ground running on her first day in India. A quick breakfast stop at the city's famous chai stand, Lucky Chai, energized us for a morning of house and school supply shopping, and a taste of fresh coconut juice, in the Old City with new Field Assistant, Prena Aaroa.

24 hours later, Sadie landed in Ahmedabad. A devoted World Camp applicant, she was pumped to dive right into her first experience in India and our volunteer orientation. The day was complete with shopping for Indian clothes, a tour of the city, our first (of many) Gujarati thalis, an introduction to World Camp curriculum issues, and a conversation about service at Seva Cafe. Pictures and stories are coming.....

With love from, the India 2010 crew

Mountains, Music, and Matipila

We began this week with an invigorating (aka excessively tiring) 4-hour round-trip hike up Mt. Nkoma. Scott and Jaren raced to the top, and while some managed to keep up—more or less—many found themselves tiresomely battling their way through 5 foot tall grass, across fields of scratchy stickers, and up sheer rocks. But, lunch at the top, accompanied by the hum of more bugs than any of us could ever care to see in our lifetime, the distant drumming in villages far below, and a spectacular view of perhaps half of Malawi (being a relatively small country) made the trip well worth our while.

On the second night of our third camp at Matipila Full Primary School, we all participated in an overnight homestay. We hiked a short distance through shrubbery and fields to a small village of no more than a dozen brick homes, housing four generations of a single extended family. The girls set to work helping the village women with their daily chores almost immediately—everyone joined in to help separate dried kernels of corn from their cobs, and many volunteered to help the women carry water from the nearest pump (though only Sarah G. has quite mastered the art of balancing large burdens on her head). Everyone but Channell (who was quite content to sit quietly in the village with her new-found friends) climbed a nearby hill to watch the brilliant orange and red sunset.

Evening came with some practice pounding ground nuts for Ashley and Sarah W., cooking nsima for Jess, and plenty of singing and dancing for everyone (with the exception of the boys, who were busy having bro-time with the chief). After dinner, the girls gathered in a circle with the village women to dance and clap along to traditional Chichewa songs and perform stunning acapella renditions of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” and “Build Me Up Buttercup,” when pressed to share some musical highlights of their own culture.

Nighttime was somewhat less than restful for most, as we tried to adjust to an 8pm bedtime and the constant bleating of goats. A brilliant sunrise came around 6am and most of us were up to see it, thanks to the insistent crowing of what seemed to be an entire flock of roosters. We finished off the morning with a friendly game of soccer, in which the schoolchildren easily showed up their teachers and the WC volunteers. Presentations went well—and were apparently hilarious, though the Chichewa made the plots a bit difficult to follow.

And now, after one night’s much-needed rest back at the World Camp house, we’re headed off for four days of safari in Zambia! It should be a very exciting experience and we’ll be sure to update about it when we return.

Until next time,
Alex, Channell, and the rest of World Camp

Having some trouble uploading pictures. We'll try again later!