By Zsolt Gyarmati, Hungary, Fighting with The Poor 21 months programme Earlier I had a decent job in the capital of Hungary, I rented an apartment, had a car, had friends and all the “normal” stuff. However I wasn’t satisfied with my life. So I decided to change my life maybe not permanently, but entirely. I wanted to do something meaningful in this rushing and money-centered world. My goal now is to make other people’s life better. If I can make only one single life better, I will be really happy. So I decided to go on a journey and...

Hello Beautiful people, I am writing to you to let you know what CATs are doing in India. I will start with the 1st group - Svenja, Letizia and Alexandra – volunteering at Biogas Project in Dausa (Rajasthan) . Beside participating in the daily routines of the project such as visiting biogas plants and participating in the meetings with local communities and facing the language barrier, this group is also in charge of creating a simple step-by-step illustrated guidebook. This guidebook contains instructions of how to build a biogas plant, as well as information about the benefits of biogas, common...

Introduction My name is Roser Maura and I am from Spain. In 2017, I decided to become a Development Instructor (DI) and I joined CICD England in order to do the preparation period. I arrived in Zambia in August. After being in the NHQ (Ndola), and in Nakambala Approved School (Mazabuka), the plan was to go to Mumena Child Aid (Slowezi). However, we received a call suggesting that we had to change to Child Aid Nampundwe. That was my first and biggest shock, but now is the best that could have happened. The project and its implementation Child Aid Nampundwe...

By Margarita Barbeiro, Colombia I have heard that if Life takes something from you, it is because it has something bigger prepared on your way… and it is true. One of the biggest challenges that I have experienced this year was to be separated of my family in Colombia and it was incredible the way that my feelings to be far away from home were compensated in CICD this Christmas with a new and amazing experience. The day started with the preparation of the event with only 12 people in total, considering that most of...

By J. Paola Gomez Garzon, Spain I never thought that at the age of 28 I would live the best New Year’s eve of my life. 31st of December 2018, it was three month and 9 days since I arrived to a very special place in the north of England, CICD (College for International Co-operation and Development). Leaving a life of comfort behind, I enlisted to a life changing project to Africa. Everything starts at CICD living in a community, getting to meet new people, new stories and new experiences and sharing mine with them too. So far the Gaia...

Melisa is from Argentina and before coming to CICD she has worked with an insurance company, has a degree in tourism and did temporary work at the weekends. Here is the interview we had with her after she returned with her team from India. About the start and the first steps in the programme: I joined CICD in November 2017 and was a Gaia student at first. In May 2018 my Climate Activist Programme (CAT) started. There have been three main reasons why I joined the programme: At first, I felt the need to change my routines. Secondly, the programme...

On the 24th of September we had the possibility to visit Siemens Gamesa at their training centre in Hull. All this was made possible by Allan and Britta who are working with the Tvind Wind Mill in the Danish town Ulfborg, which was built by volunteers in the 1970’s as the then world’s biggest wind mill . More about the Tvind Wind Mill and its’ relation to Siemens can be read here https://www.tvindkraft.dk/en/a-trailblazing-windmill/the-tvind-windmill-showed-the-way.html Also listen to this https://soundcloud.com/cicd/building-the-biggest-windmill-in-the-world podcast in which our Headmistress Karen who has been one of the volunteers building the Tvindmill speaks about it) While in the...

Hi!!! My name is Jorge Barriga and I’m from Portugal. A little more than 2 years ago I took a really new step in my life. I’m an outgoing person who always liked to meet new people, cultures, travel, teamwork, learn, do and experience new things, help others and making people around me happy… So when I finished my degree in International Relations I was looking for a job but the job interviews I was having were for things that I actually wouldn’t like to be doing and I also felt I didn’t want to take the “normal” path and...

Think of a factory making car parts. Every day to make the same pieces, during the 52 weeks of the year, for years and years.The“normal” life, it's the same ... .. Every day we get up at the same time, doing the same things, 365 days, for years and years ... .. YOUR LIFE IS A FACTORY, imposed by the system that surrounds you. I was lucky that in 2012 I managed to wake up from this system and do something that really matters: TO LEAVE MY MARK IN SOMEONE'S LIFE. My name is Carla Sofia Domingues, Portuguese, 40 years...

 Click here to read an interview with Vicky and Jose, after arriving back to CICD in May! Development is many things...also creative arts! In these three months in Zambia we have been doing different projects. After visiting some communities around we decided that the three priorities were: Repairing the mono-pumps to provide clean water to the communities The construction of a new shelter for a meal meal machine (for grinding maize flour) in order to get the electricity necessary to use it. Help the parents in Kachasu community to start the construction of a new school. Their children are walking...

Project: DNS Teachers Training College , DAPP Zambia in Mkushi, northern Zambia With this report I want to show the work so far by our team, and tell about some of my personal experiences working with the local people and the co-workers from DAPP Zambia. Before we started, we had a meeting with the Project Leader where we agreed on a schedule for our work and the way we were going to work. We also got an explanation of how things work around here and a briefing of the work of the previous Development Instructors (DI-s) [widgetkit id="87" name="Experience Jose...

Every month our school comes together for a very special kind of weekend. Two days dedicated to our school, to our home. The building weekend is a moment for developing practical skills, for painting, repairing and enjoying time all together. Students and teachers join together to make a plan of what needs to be improved in our buildings, then we divide in groups and get down to work! We can’t deny that it’s an exhausting weekend since it demands a lot of physical effort, but we also get the opportunity to join together with a common goal, improve our school,...

Hi! I'm Andrea from the 2016 November team. We just got back from Mozambique after 6 wonderful months there. Now it's time to move on and start to organise our trip to Greece, and the presentations that we will make in different countries. Now that the winter is coming I don't know how we will face it! We did it last year, but now it seems unbelievable! Mozambique was the destination that my team mate Marta and I chose for our service period as Development Instructors. We worked on a huge project called “Food For Knowledge” (FFK), where we got...

1. Who is Dan Mahulet? He is a simple 27 years old Romanian who graduated university of mechanical engeenering, and worked 4 years in retail plus on cruise ships and recently he took the decision to go to Africa to do development work. 2. Other young lads in your age are looking to build a career or to party everywhere. Why did you take the decision to go in Africa? Until one year ago I had a very nice job: I was working on cruise ships and in the same time I was travelling to some amazing places plus I...

Andrea and Marta, November team 2016 “Fighting with The Poor” Hi, we are Andrea and Marta. We are two DIs from CICD - England and we are in Mozambique since May 2017. We are working with ADPP Mozambique - FFK (“Food For Knowledge”), that is a big project that works with different activities in the province of Maputo. We had the opportunity to decide in which district we wanted to work and we choose Manhiça. Since the beginning the project gave us freedom to work in what we felt more confortable with, so we choose to work with “Clubes Escolares”....

Climate Activists with Homeless Support in Delhi and Green Action project in Behror, India!     Our journey started on March 29st, at 7:30, we left CICD for our next chapter of programme in India. After a long day travelling in public transports, finally we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London at for the flight to Delhi at 21:00. Next day, we arrived in Delhi at 11:00. The impact was very strong because we left UK with 7 or 8º C but here was around 39º C! Our bodies started to react immediately, breathing became more difficult and our senses...

{headtag:customtag} {/headtag}  Report from 24-months Team FWTP - 03.04.2017     We arrived to DAPP Ndola, Zambia, at the end of February 2017.   Travel period will prepare you for a lot of things, but what awaited us wasn't one of them! :-) Right after the arrival day, we dived head-first to the social life. Our arrival was so carefully placed by the Mighty Random that we met all our teams from CICD in just 2 days. That wasn't enough though! – Two days after, a team from far away, from a partner school in USA, has arrived; and our colleagues...

Ana and Ryma  About our experience in the projects, the only thing that we can tell you is that it was the experience of our life! When you decide that you want to do something like becoming a Development Instructor you need to be sure that you are prepared to change a lot of things in your life. Since we arrived here we improved a lot our English, we live surrounded by different cultures, different languages, different food, different way of living.  It is amazing the things that we learned when we lived in a community and that we then...

The “Zamfam Project” (Zambian Family Project) is a recent project being implemented by Development Aid from People to People  (DAPP), together with "Creative", "Kafhi" and "NZPT", with funds and technical support from the American People through USAID.    The aim of this project is to improve the quality of the people's life, in the villages, in communities ….and especially for the children. For example by supporting, protecting and reinforcing the importance of basic hygiene and health conditions for a better and more dignified life. In this project several points are fundamental: To make communities aware of the importance of latrines,...

This is a very weird feeling that we are having, returning to CICD. It’s like nothing changed since we left in May but, at the same time, it’s completely different. There are new people, new students, new teams, same spirit, same habits and same routine and same people also. Since the moment we came back we felt comfortable here, we know all the spaces and all the responsibilities and tasks that came with CICD life. We also feel that we are different, something as changed during our period in Namibia. We still don’t know exactly what but, in fact, there...