While my time working at Matandani Primary School was limited to just two weeks, being a volunteer here was not only enlightening, it was encouraging as well. Everyday I was rewarded with the beaming grins of the children that always return a friendly wave. The campus never failed to be a pleasant sight with its colorful classrooms, wide range of flora, and abundant trees that gave the students a cool place to play during break.
During my time at Matandani, I got to witness the overwhelming amount of improvements that other volunteer and charity efforts have made over the years in addition to their effects on Matandani’s teaching. For example, the added classroom blocks have reduced the student to teacher ratio and the new projectors, whiteboards, and desks have facilitated easier learning for the kids.
By volunteering here, I felt that I was contributing to this progress, and therefore the students’ future.
Specifically, I was working with some Standard 8 students in a technology club after school (that you can read more about here). Collaborating with the teachers for the club was very easy as they were all focused on the same goal of improving and expanding education at Matandani. As I said before, it was quite encouraging to see how passionate and interested the older students were about using the iPads for video taking and how attentive the younger students were toward the “onecourse” software for learning Chichewa and Masamu.
There is much positive energy at Matandani Primary School. It is in the students, teachers, and volunteers who devote most of their day to the betterment of Malawi’s future. The reason I enjoyed volunteering here so much was that I knew I was furthering a worthy cause. While the scenery and the smiles were a nice bonus, being assured that my efforts were broadening the minds of the students made each day truly rewarding.
Written by Kyle Peterson
