Four Weeks' Time!

Since the three day intensive, fun, nerve wracking and inspiring Lattitude training course I attended last weekend I feel less scared and a lot more excited about the very soon to be reality of Malawi. I’ve now met the team I will be travelling and working with, learnt more about the culture, climate and people of Malawi (I was even able to speak to the team coordinator in Malawi on Skype!) and more about the places we will be living and the project we will be helping with.

I am over the moon to announce that I have hit my £800 fundraising target for Lattitude Global Volunteering! But I’m not stopping there! Next week I am hosting a Gypsy Jazz Night in aid of the charity. Many amazing people have helped me on my journey so far and this event is no different; the amazing Jo Silver and The Café Bohemia have kindly offered to perform an exclusive set of Django Reinhardt classics as well as many of their own creations and the infamous Nick Buckle will create music mayhem with two sets of vintage vinyl blues and soul. I am so excited! If you live in the Southerly vicinity please do come along. Buy your £7.50 tickets by going to my just giving page www.justgiving.com/ellen-grant and clicking donate, specify how many tickets you’d like to purchase and leave your full name.

Having (mostly!) ditched unhelpfully worrying about the Malawi trip I have been able to focus on what I really want to get out of the placement. As a feminist and a huge believer in the potential of women to change the world I would be particularly inspired to get the chance to work with young women and find ways of enabling them better access to education, especially about their rights and sexual health.

I am so excited about the prospect of living with a family in Mzuzu and hopefully becoming a part of everyday family life. Myself and a Malawian counterpart volunteer (who I will be living with) will join up with another UK and Malawian ‘couple’ each day and travel to the project leg that we have been assigned. We’ll find out exactly what this will involve when we arrive in Lilongwe (Malawi’s capital) for our two day initiation course. 

Now all that is left to do is brush up on my Chitumbuka, start packing and get the final jabs that I need.  I think the reality of actually, finally, going to Africa will only hit me when I board the plane for Addis Ababa on the 23^rd of April in four weeks' time!