And So The Story Begins

(Below: A child in Malawi. Taken by Ryan Dugan.)

Hello and welcome!

These blogs have proven to be a popular and effective way to keep people updated on what's going on in someone's life, so I've decided to start up my own as a way of sharing with you the rich experiences in which I will soon be submerged. I've already been hard at work preparing for my volunteer experience, so the story has already begun!

As you may or may not already know, I will be spending the next two years of my life in Africa. I will be volunteering with the Marianist Volunteer Program (MVP)with four other UD graduates and one teacher from Iowa. Together, we will be supporting the Marianists with three major programs that they are running in the town of Karonga, Malawi in South-Central Africa. The three programs include Chaminade Secondary School, M.I.R.A.C.L.E. Technical College, and the Women's Empowerment Program.

Chaminade is an all boys boarding high school that hosts about 350 boys from various parts of Malawi. M.I.R.A.C.L.E. is a trade school for female and male youth between the ages of 17 and 27 who never completed their formal education. All of the students at M.I.R.A.C.L.E. have lost at least one parent, many of them to AIDS. And the Women's Empowerment Program (WEP) is a microcredit program that provides small loans to women of the surrounding area, working to bring them out of extreme poverty and empower them to have a stronger position in society; the WEP is an incredible program, and I'm excited to contribute whatever I can to help it continue to succeed.

My specific placement is as a teacher of Biology and Social Studies to first year students at Chaminade. Chaminade's headmaster has also expressed an interest in me assisting in the development of a counseling program for the boys. Such an endeavor would undoubtedly be a significant challenge, but I am extremely excited by the prospect of already putting to use the knowledge I've gained from my UD education and engaging in a project that could directly help the boys in the school.

If all that doesn't already sound like enough to fill my plate, I am also already working with Matt Meyers, one of the other volunteers, researching Permaculture gardens. Permaculture is a way of designing gardens that utilizes the many aspects of a particular ecosystem in order to develop highly productive, self-sustaining, and environmentally friendly gardens. Not only do these gardens have the potential to produce much needed nutrition for the students, but their design actually has the potential to improve the quality of the soil and the environment. Permaculture is an extremely exciting movement that is emerging throughout the world. Google it, and check it out; it's really cool stuff!

As I have gained more and more details of what I will be doing in Karonga, I have become more and more excited about my decision to dedicate over two years of my life to volunteering. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with the eleventh lowest per capita Gross Domestic Product. In addition to those economic challenges, Malawi faces one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world with about 14% of the population living with HIV/AIDS. These issues combine with some serious educational inadequacies, definite environmental concerns, and troubling cultural inequalities to make Malawi a country in true need of help.

(Above: Malawian children - Ryan Dugan)

With all of those challenges facing this country, I know that I am going to face many challenges as well. In those challenges, though, I know I will have so many opportunities to grow, and that is what excites me about this commitment. There is so much I can learn through this experience. My simple hope is that I can give something to the people who I know will be teaching me.

Right now, I still have a great deal of fundraising to accomplish, so I am working hard on staying focused on that task and trying not to spend too much time looking into the things I will be doing once I'm there. I have to keep reminding myself that I have to raise the funds to get there before I can start doing any of the work.

With that, I should get off here, and quit daydreaming about the exciting adventures ahead.

If you are interested in making a donation to make this work possible, you can contact me anytime at taube.andy@gmail.com, or you can send donations to:

Andy Taube

10022 S. Malta St.

Chicago IL, 60643-2121

MVP has recommended that any checks be made out to me, and then I can collect them all and write one final check made out to them. If you are interested in receiving a tax deduction you can make a check out to the Marianist Volunteer Program and send it to me. I can then contact MVP and ask them to send a letter to you as a receipt of your donation.

Thank you for your support and for being a part of this journey with me!