By Idoia Gaston, August team 2018 The man in front of the wall I wanted to spend the last morning before coming back to England taking more pictures inside the camp, going around and speaking with people in Aida Camp. I went one more time near the wall and while I was reading one of the stories written there, I turned my head and I saw one man sitting on his chair who invited me to sit next to him, in his small mechanical workshop. Mohammed was born in Bethlehem and his business was really good before the construction of...

My name is Jose and in May 2018 I finished my Service period that took place in Mkushi, Zambia where I worked with a team from my school (CICD where I spend 6 months before joining the program DNS Mkushi), workers from DAPP Zambia, members of local communities and local government. I would like to share with you a part of my experience and hopefully this can be of use to you. The purpose of this document is to share my experience as a guide for new development instructors and help them to do a good job and have a...

It has been one month since we came back from Palestine. We are a team of eight people from CICD, interested in 21-century conflicts currently going on. This is why Palestine was our destiny for the investigation week. Before going, we learned about the Arabic culture, the story of the Palestine-Israel conflict and we took our backpacks and left. Once we landed, we faced a first passport control where we were asked the reasons to fly to Tel Aviv, where we would stay and if we were going to Palestine, even if we knew people there. One of us, with...

One of the tasks we have as Development Instructors is to share our experiences and knowledge with people of our continent.  This is why our programmes have a final period called “Bring it to the Public”. In this period our volunteers prepare presentations and workshops that try to bring their personal experience on the projects to our fellow European neighbours. As a team, they make a plan and a route of which countries and cities they want to visit, and together with the teachers they organise presentations for all kinds of people to try to inspire them and give new...

We are in the very last weeks of this 3 months travel, now we are headed to Zambia, our last destination where we will conclude the travel and finalize the Investigation. In the last two weeks we were in Malawi, more specifically in Ntchisi, a very rural area. We were making our investigation in different households and also helping the DAPP project called “Let the children go to school”. This project focuses in the children attending school and does it in many different ways. One of the biggest problems in the primary schools is the drop up, there are many...

Rafael (also known as Manuelito) told me his story a very warm evening in Children's Town, while we were sitting on a mattress on the floor with 3 of the youngest boys asleep. I’ve heard this story before, when I met him 2 years ago, but this time, as he was telling it my feeling of admiration for this young person was so big I asked him if I could write down his story to share with whoever wants to read and he said yes right away. Rafael Bernardo Chambal is almost 17 years old, was born the 23-07-2000. Until...

We have been for 9 days in Botswana. We were in Phikwe, in a project called Child Aid. Here in Child Aid Phikwe they work with 10 areas: Economy strengthening Health Pre school Youth in Society Vulnerable Children Education Environment District Child Labour Crime Prevention Here in Selibe Phikwe, most of the people work in the mines but what happened last October changed everything! For different reasons the mine closed and more than six thousand people lost their jobs. What Phikwe is going through now is a very sad reality. People do not have food on their table. Families who...

We have been for 9 days in Botswana. We were in Phikwe, in a project called Child Aid. Here in Selibe Phikwe, most of the people work in the mines but what happened last October changed everything! For different reasons the mine closed and more than six thousand people lost their jobs. What Phikwe is going through now is a very sad reality. People do not have food on their table. Families who worked in the mine do not have any other job. From the TB screening door to door visits we could see that many of the families were...

EXPERIENCE IN MOROCCO from Milagros, August team 2017 We are all an important part of the world in which we live and the society, culture and country to which we belong. The hazards of destiny mark in some way the paths we take throughout our lives. Luckily or unfortunately, we should debate it, I was lucky to develop my life in one of the countries considered the first world; which does not mean that it ignores the needs and problems of the less developed countries that, to a greater or lesser extent, are the result of economic and political powers...

“Let the children go to school “ – CICD travel-team investigating and helping in Malawi!   We are in the very last weeks of this 3 months travel, now we are headed to Zambia, our last destination where we will conclude the travel and finalize the Investigation.In the last two weeks we were in Malawi, more specifically in Ntchisi, a very rural area. We were making our investigation in different households and also helping the DAPP project called “Let the children go to school”. This project focuses in the children attending school and does it in many different ways. One...

Few weeks ago, during our travel period, I faced difficulties which potentially could mean a disaster, but because of a huge support from my school, my colleagues and African people, everything resulted into just a bit spicy trip. I'd love to share this story with you.     Everything begun with a stupid stupid idea in Namibia. We have traveled from Johannesburg, South Africa, by bus to Windhoek, Namibia. By my birth outside the EU, I happen to have two nationalities, Czech and Russian, and I decided to use my Czech passport in South Africa, then switch to Russian passport...

During the last 20 days we have been in Children’s Town in Costa do Sol, Mozambique. Many things have happened during this time. We had Christmas celebration, New Year’s celebration and a Peace Boat visit. I will tell you more about our time here and about Children’s Town itself… Children's Town has almost 40 children from 8 to 18 years old who live there. Most of them are orphans. In Children’s Town there is a school for the Children’s Town kids and also for the children from the community around. The school is from 1st to 7th grade. The 24th...

Today we spoke with one of our good friends, Boyd Basuti, who is an entrepreneur, drama director and leader of a youth artistic group in Phikwe, Botswana. He and another friend from Phikwe were telling us about the safety situation in Botswana. Botswana is one of the safest countries in southern Africa. The firearms are mainly allowed only for the military; even the police uses guns very rarely. And even though there is no armed police, the crime rates are really low. Boyd explains that it's because of the culture of the people – when they hear shots, the first...

It took us 49 hours to arrive to DAPP school in Outapi from Johannesburg. Now, 8 days later, we depart from Oshakati, in a 2 days travel to Botswana. It was not a long time but it was enough to have strong impressions and some conclusions for our “Woman and Children conditions and status” investigation. Here in the North we could see a bit of the Namibian reality. We saw the colors of the country, the smiles, the open arms and also the poverty, the sad side of all, the darkness. It is a quite desert area, here in the...

When your study & preparation period begins, you will start to study some interesting subject like the Contemporary World, Health, The Rich and the Poor, Expressive Arts, and more. Most of this knowledge that you will receive you will put in practise during the 6 months project-period in Africa or India. As a DI (Development Instructor) I was working in a SAARAI PROJECT – a project for family planning. Here I needed to be able to talk about the importance of planning your family, able to talk about contraceptive methods and some of the diseases that you can get if...

Hello! I’m Ryma, a DI from the 18 months program.  The project that I chose was Child Aid Chibombo. I chose this project because we can work in many areas like pre-schools, clinics, agriculture, Women’s club, Youth club…there is always something to do in the communities. Me and my team felt really welcome in the communities and in the projects,  we felt like with family. We learned a lot from them, especially things from daily life that we never realized - for example how to repair a bicycle in a very easy way. How simple things can become so important...

Hi everyone, Marje and Kevin here again. If you haven’t yet, check out our experience in Zambia, where we were for 6 months, working in the National Headquarters of DAPP. You can also read our complete report for the entire project period. Anyway, to get back on track. We recently travelled to Italy for the first part of our journal period a.k.a, bringing it to the public. During the journal period your aim is to take your experience at the projects to as many interested people as possible. To do that we decided to travel to Italy and hold 3...

The idea of the DmM computer based programme The DmM System (Determination of Modern Methods) is a digital programme, and one of the tools in the interactive method of education used at CICD. This system puts you - the student - in charge of your own studies. Where traditional teaching methods are often organising the teacher as the master and the student as the apprentice, the DmM empowers both the subject, the student and the teacher. The subject is identified specifically and categorised as one unit of information instead of being a part of the usual and continuous stream of...

From Wikipedia   The War You Don't See is a 2010 British documentary film written, produced and directed by John Pilger with Alan Lowery, which challenges the media for the role they played in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestine conflicts. The film begins with footage of an unreported July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike and black and white stills of the victims of the U.S. Occupation of Iraq. In his opening narration Pilger quotes World War I British Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s comment to Guardian editor C. P. Scott that, “If the people really knew the truth, the war would...

El Sistema is a network of childrens and youth orchestras, music centres and workshops in Venezuela, in which more than 250,000 children and young people are currently learning to play an instrument. It was set up over thirty years ago by José Antonio Abreu, who was driven by the utopian vision of a better future. In the dangerous and poverty-stricken shanty towns of Caracas, Abreu lifts children out of poverty through music, changing both people and structures. The story, which has all the makings of a fairytale, is the extraordinary account of a vision that has become reality. Several of...