Help by volunteering
We are always looking for volunteers to support our work. We welcome people from different backgrounds and with different experiences and skills; there is always a place for you with N4BW.
Supporting our work in the UK is just as valuable as travelling to Malawi. We need fundraisers; regular givers; ambassadors, IT specialists and trustees to join a dedicated band of volunteers. This list is by no means exhaustive: contact us to find other ways you can get involved.
Overseas volunteers tend to stay for periods ranging from 1 month to 1 year. The projects we are currently working on include agriculture, water, health, business and education.
All volunteers travelling to Sitima with N4BW undergo a DBS check and receive a full briefing from the trustees and experienced volunteers
The quote below from Teresa Tomeo encourages everyone to respond, dont be put off by a lack of experience, get in touch and see what we can work ou
"God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. And if there is something that has been on your heart for a while, then maybe God is calling you"
Meet some of our volunteers
Retired Social Services Worker
Sheila is a retired Social Services worker and trainer. In Malawi she supported the Primary School teachers with the inclusion of children with special needs in their classes. She also helped families giving them practical advice where there were children or adults with disabilities.
Retired from a career in Education
Marian has volunteered with us on many occasions: in 2017 she first spent a month as a short term volunteer and then spent a full year working on a number of educational initiatives with seventeen primary schools and two secondary schools.
Marian has become a trustee for N4BW and her specific role is in managing projects in Sitima and link volunteers toschool and community groups
It is a pleasure to write this reflective account of the month I spent in Sitima supporting the work of N4BW. From the word go I appreciated the ethos of thie small friendly NGO and the welcome I received. Meeting with the committee prior to my trip and exchanging emails about Sitima and the various aspects of their project work was invaluable.
Volunteer stories
Veronica, a retired nurse has recently returned from her fourth volunteering stint. Over the fourvisits she has taught health education in schools and in the community, she has taught first aid to teachers, community members and prisoners, supported Sitima Parish as they worked to open a new clinic, supported families with disabled children and carried out a host of other tasks wherever she saw the need.
Veronica has written a couple of stories about her most recent experiences
Stuart and his familyStuart is 18, but he looks about 12. He was born with a congenital disease which has left him with very deformed upper and lower limbs, made worse by never having access to physio, so his limbs are totally fixed. Harry the local man who helps the charity suggested I visited Stuart and his family.
Lying on a mat outside in the full sun, flies around his head, rapid shallow breathing and smelling of urine, he looked hungry and weary. His mother works in the local tobacco factory when his 2 brothers are home from school to care for him and there is no father around. The family members all looked hungry, but were as welcoming as ever, as so many Malawian people are. My goal was to identify Stuart’s problems and see which ones I could alleviate.
As a retired nurse, I could see he was clinically ill, and it looked to me like pneumonia with an underlying untreated asthma too. I left and talked it through with Raphael the nurse lead for the new clinic. Together we agreed that as there was no way Stuart could get to the clinic, we would visit him at home after Raphael finished work. This was the first home visit the nurse had done. It was wonderful to work with him and agree a plan of care. We left having agreed the diagnosis, and bought antibiotics and other medicines with money kindly donated by well-wishers, before I set off on my journey to Malawi.
Some problems were easy to resolve, I returned with a mosquito net so that the flies were not on him, something which delighted him so much, a blanket to put under him to keep him more comfortable and a packet of biscuits which always goes down well; his mum says he called me the biscuit lady! After discussion with Marian, the volunteer I was in Sitima with we agreed to take a sack of maize which would feed the whole family for a month until the new harvest came in. I also took her 2 bras and a t-shirt and the boys some pants, and sweets too. They were all delighted, it was wonderful to see smiles on their weary faces.
Stuart will not probably live much longer, he looked so sick, but at least working on the ground so closely which is the great thing about the charity, I was able to make his last months more bearable.
Working togetherI came to Sitima with a quantity of carpentry tools given to me by Men in Sheds. Marian suggested we divided them up and put them in fabric bags, before they were given to final year students at Namitembo college nearby. We bought the fabric and asked the newly established local ladies sewing group to make them up for us. An 18 year old student from Luntha secondary school in Sitima helped the ladies to use the new sewing machines which we had recently bought for them. We then paid the ladies for undertaking this assignment, so everyone benefitted. A great way to work, so that the local people have to help to achieve the goal, but get some reward for it too.
Let us know if you’re thinking about volunteering
Get in touch if you think you can help N4BW and the communities in Malawi.
Sheila
Retired Social Services Worker
Sheila is a retired Social Services worker and trainer. In Malawi she supported the Primary School teachers with the inclusion of children with special needs in their classes. She also helped families giving them practical advice where there were children or adults with disabilities.
Marian
Retired from a career in Education
Marian has volunteered with us on many occasions: in 2017 she first spent a month as a short term volunteer and then spent a full year working on a number of educational initiatives with seventeen primary schools and two secondary schools.
Marian has become a trustee for N4BW and her specific role is in managing projects in Sitima and link volunteers toschool and community groups
Jane
It is a pleasure to write this reflective account of the month I spent in Sitima supporting the work of N4BW. From the word go I appreciated the ethos of thie small friendly NGO and the welcome I received.
Meeting with the committee prior to my trip and exchanging emails about Sitima and the various aspects of their project work was invaluable. It also gave the committee opportunity to identify where my skills might be useful. I was pleased to have the opportunity to travel with another volunteer, Sheila Cogley, who had been to Sitima several times previously.
Malawi is a country of extreme poverty and I was very glad to have been informed of this before I arrived so I at least new a little of what to expect. Our plane and car journey took about a day, and we expected dry weather in September as the rains hopefully come later in October/ November.
My fellow volunteer Sheila, being learning disabilities trained, had made multiple contacts with families with a disabled child or adult on her previous visits. This created a natural opportunity for her to re-visit families, find out how they were getting on, and identify needs. I joined Sheila in the hope that I could also contribute.
Working through a local translator we looked holistically at the daily living conditions of the families, considering everything from food supply, availability of land to ‘grow their own’ crops, availability of clothes and shoes, cooking facilities, and the state of repair their houses was in (roofs in particular!)
Broadly speaking every family was struggling and living hand to mouth. We had the privilege of entering some houses to encourage the use of mosquito nets. Even the basic human needs for warmth and shelter do not come easily here.
We were often asked for food and blankets. It is commonplace to see children and adults without shoes. The need is very genuine. It is hard for people to keep clean, water supply is limited, the environment is very dusty and everything takes effort.
The main means of transport is bicycle in Sitima – and we got around locally by foot or by paying for a ‘bicycle taxi’ – paying 800 Malawi Kwacha (80p) for an hour’s ride.
The staple diet is nsima (maize flour) mixed into a solid consistency, sometimes eaten with ‘relish’ which is a mixture of tomatoes and onions. You may have greens: this consists of spinach, or possibly the leaves from courgette or turnip plants boiled up into a stew. Occasionally I saw okra and heard groundnuts mentioned, but they are not always in season. As you can imagine, protein is lacking and we saw clear evidence of malnutrition in both children and adults.
Being able to give financial contributions to facilitate hospital visits, which would be otherwise missed, was a real privilege. Gifts of money from UK meant we could pay for wheechair repairs and buy matresses and plastic for roof repairs. The generous donations of clothes, shoes, toys, soap, etc were much appreciated: so much more is needed.
N4BW responds to so many vital aspects of this community: schooling, training teachers, improving homes, providing vegetable plots. Encouraging the social groups held within the Parish like the womens literacy group and the sewing group also builds capacity.
A little has to go a long way in Malawi, acts of kindness are very much appreciated. Let us continue to share hope and share what we have.
Network for a Better World (N4BW), is a registered charity in England and Wales (number 1151591)
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