Malawi

Malawi flag

Stories from Malawi

Every Peace Corps Volunteer has a story to tell about their service. Read stories from Volunteers about what it's like to live and serve in Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa.

41-60 of 126 results
Jane leading a session on malaria prevention

With a facility catchment population of over 24,000 spread out among 100 villages, promoting healthy behaviors that prevent disease can be a challenge in Volunteer Jane’s community.

OFSP vines

It all began while I was away.

Lake Malawi

It’s late November, the end of dry season, and the river is at its lowest mark, more a jumble of sticks and sand-covered rocks than a river.

Janet in her community

I sat at the airport preparing to leave the U.S.A. for Malawi, and all I could think was that I couldn’t believe I had actually made it. I would soon be a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Cody at GLOW Camp

"You will never have another experience like Peace Corps."

VIDEO: A day in the life in Malawi
Budala Women’s Group

When Anna Mansfield moved from Idaho to a rural Malawian village to serve in the Peace Corps, she looked for ways to use her skills to benefit the grassroots work already happening in her community.

Jenn with Lira on her back

Eight in the morning on a Sunday. Nothing but the sounds of birds and my neighbors beginning their day.

Cameron practicing with her community's choir

At a recent Peace Corps training, we were told that “life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” This saying really struck me in its deep connection to my service.

Conor with his homestay family

Serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi offers a series of contrasts to life in the United States.

Madiera Dennison is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi.

In Malawi I live in Chitipa, the farthest northern district bordering both Tanzania and Zambia.

barbershop

My Peace Corps journey began in March 2013 when I left my home in Arkansas for the warm heart of Africa – Malawi.

Malawian farmers stand proudly in front of their food garden crops

“Will you help us?” That is the question that accompanies most of the conversations that I have every day, but as a decided idealist, I try my best to always say yes. Life in Malawi can be a challenge, but more often than not it is a rewarding country to live and work in. 

Malawian women with colorful skirts gather to welcome new Trainees outside of a school house

I was raised in a progressive household in a progressive country by progressive parents who fought to afford me the best opportunities possible. 

Two Malawian females walk down a beautiful, and orange flower-filled village path carrying wood on their heads

My abode sits in a little nook within the confines of my school’s campus, protected by tall walls made of brick and shaded by the canopy of fruit frees: mango, papaya, and banana. You can sprawl out on my front porch, close your eyes, and hear nearly everything. 

Five Response Volunteers stand infront of the Lilongwe airport with their luggage

Peace Corps service has been a lifelong dream of mine. And I mean Peace Corps’ life, not mine…because I am older than the Peace Corps!

A male Volunteer sits with three Malawian campers under a tent outside.

As I climb in the tuk-tuk (a small motorized covered almost-tricycle-like thing—you know what, just google it, this is a bad description), I ask the driver “how much?” in Chichewa. He answers and then I get in. Then the familiar question comes: “How long have you been in Malawi?” “Chaka chimodzi,” I answer. One year.

Two Malawian sit together and write in notebooks in a classroom.
So why did someone with a degree in writing not immediately start writing about this, the experience of a lifetime, Peace Corps, the Olympics of international volunteering in the US? Doesn’t every writer dream of having something like this to inspire them?
Volunteer Erica and their counterpart bend over a hole to plant a tree sapling.
On a day exactly like all the other days endlessly chained together during pre-service training – a literal lifetime ago – I found myself innocuously sitting in the grass near the football grounds in our training village.

Pages