It has been like this for
many years: US citizens come to volunteer in Malawi for two years and leave,
often with fond memories and a passion to help end extreme poverty; their lives
changed, forever.
Some, like Michael
Buckler, have continued to help Malawi while back in the US. Others, like Adam
Gaskins, have come back to found NGOs that are working with rural people. Buckler
founded Village X, an organisation that is drilling boreholes in rural corners
of Malawi.
All this is good, yet not
enough. Peace Corps volunteers who lived in Malawi left one desire that was
never met.
Peace Corps volunteers in
Malawi, and across the region, have inspired a generation of young people who
have developed a passion to help end extreme poverty in their own countries.
Sadly for Malawi, there was no program for young people to volunteer and get
life changing experiences by helping rural people realize their potential and
meet their needs.
Of course, once every year,
in April, there was Youth Week, a voluntary week in which young people did
social services in their areas. But that was during one party system of
politics under Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
Youth Week ended once
Malawi adopted multiparty politics of government in May 1993. In fact, that
year’s Youth Week was poorly patronised because multiparty advocates castigated
the week as oppressive. The idea of voluntary work was suffocated.
Now there is an
opportunity, for young people to volunteer not just for a week, but for a year;
a year of living and working with rural people and helping them help
themselves.
CorpsAfrica, founded by
Liz Fanning, has rolled out in Africa, starting with Morocco, now Senegal and Malawi.
Says the introduction on CorpsAfrica website:
“Modelled after the
successful Peace Corps program, CorpsAfrica will recruit men and women from
developing countries of Africa to move to high-poverty communities within their
own country. Each volunteer will stay in a host community for one year to create
and support small projects that eliminate barriers to economic growth and
prosperity.”
The website adds that
CorpsAfrica will build up confidence through national service, give volunteers
job skills, “and an understanding of poverty that only comes from living it.” The
hope is that CorpsAfrica volunteers will be the next generation of NGO
staffers, government officials, academics, business leaders, journalists,
philanthropists, parents. (For more go to www.corpsafrica.org)
The startup director for CorpsAfrica
in Malawi is Adam Gaskins, a Peace Corps who volunteered in Dedza. He came back
to Malawi to continue helping people help themselves. Adam has experience in
working with people, especially those in rural areas. Prior to joining
CorpsAfrica, Adam founded and served as CEO of Nutreerich, a commodities export
company based in Malawi that assists farmers in supply chain management and
crop diversity. He holds a degree in business administration with an emphasis
on management from Northern Kentucky University. He is fluent in Chichewa.
There is something
powerful in voluntary work, something that makes former Peace Corps volunteers
come back to Malawi to help. That something powerful will now be planted in
Malawians volunteering in Malawi. That, I think, is the desire left by Peace
Corps volunteers, now being satisfied.
