A short journey – my CICD experience until now

Oct 6, 2023 | Students Testimonials

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By Peter Gorog, Poverty Activist team August 2023

I’d like to invite you to my little story, my perspective, how I have learned in CICD, what experiences and friends I made, that enriched my life 🙂
I arrived at the school in January 2023 with a very minimal knowledge of English, which was the first, most difficult and most important task for me, and I had to improve it as quickly as possible.
Students from many countries around the world come to the school to learn together, to work hand in hand, helping each other to achieve our common goal of helping others.
For the first months in the Gaia team, together with my classmates I was helping to run the recycling of used clothes and shoes.
Apart from this, the lessons at school were very interesting and important, often fun, other times we learned about events happening in the world. Occasionally I became a little more knowledgeable about the physical and mental knowledge that could be used in the future, day by day.
Working together, learning together, spending time with teachers and students from different nations, the common activities I experienced with the community, enriched me with many wonderful experiences.
I have also learned a lot about myself, about my weaknesses that I need to work on, which has challenged me every day. But the success I have achieved in my studies has made me more experienced, especially about my role in the community.

At the same time, my view of the world has evolved with me over the months.
After a short break at home, I returned to school to start the next phase of the programme, where we have focus on gaining knowledge and preparing to go the project in Africa, spending more time in class and a few hours a week in our small garden farm.
Of course, community life with the other students in the school is not neglected during this period. We are happy to participate together in building our environment and beautifying it. We build a sports field, and painted and refurbished rooms as well as the gymnasium.
Together with my team, we have been able to visit special places organised by our teacher, such as Stonehenge and the Eden Project.
Every night since I have had the great opportunity to join CICD, I feel like every day I am participating in something wonderful and I hope that the knowledge I have gained here will give me the opportunity to help other people. Whether it is by giving a smile in a difficult time that later becomes a joyful moment for another person, or even just moving a small pebble that may have been a huge rock in someone’s life.

Latest Blog Post

The Hidden Side of “Help”: Why We Need to Rethink Development

The Hidden Side of “Help”: Why We Need to Rethink Development

We usually don’t think twice when we hear the word “aid.” Most of us assume that helping someone is always a good thing—after all, how could giving to the poor be wrong? But I’ve realized that there is a big difference between just being “charitable” and actually doing development in a way that changes lives forever.

I used to think that poverty was just a lack of money, but the truth is often about a lack of
access. For a long time, the traditional “aid industry” followed theories that didn’t really work on the ground.
A powerful example of this is the story of Muhammad Yunus. He met a woman who had to borrow less than a dollar from a moneylender just to survive, but the terms were so bad she was basically a slave. He realized that by giving just $27 out of his own pocket, he could free 42 people from that cycle. This wasn’t just “giving money”; it was proving that the poor—especially women—are trustworthy and “credit-worthy,” even without any collateral.
Another thing I never really considered is that real help doesn’t always need a big institution. In many places, people are creating their own “financial inclusion” without any banks. For example, in Mali, women form small groups to save their own money and lend it to each other. It only costs about $20 to train a member, and then the group can run itself for years.

This is so much better than just a “handout” because it builds social capital—the women gain confidence, learn to lead, and even start their own businesses.

Finally, we have to look at how governments help. In Brazil, a program called Bolsa Família has liftedd millions out of poverty, but it isn’t just a “free gift”. Families only get the support if they meet social requirements, like making sure their kids go to school and get vaccinated. This way, the help isn’t just a temporary fix; it’s an investment in the next generation.

The more I learned, the more I saw that the best kind of development is about empowering people to be their own driving force for change. It’s about building their capacities, so they don’t need “aid” anymore.

My Personal Turning Point I never used to think about the “aid industry” this way. I just thought help was help. But exploring these different models and seeing how much impact
“doing it right” can have has completely shifted my perspective. This is exactly why I wanted to create this article: to tell you about my favourite course and why it changed my mind. It was through these specific lessons that I truly understood how we can move beyond simple charity to real, sustainable change.

Thanks for reading, a. see you soon!

Clothes & shoes sales creating change in Zambia

Clothes & shoes sales creating change in Zambia

My name is Raquel Dávila, I am from Mexico and currently volunteering in Zambia as a Development Instructor (DI) with DAPP Zambia through CICD. When I first arrived in Zambia, I did not fully understand how much impact second-hand clothes can have in a community. Many...