Why did you decide to volunteer with IVHQ in Tanzania?
Melvin: I was looking for an volunteer organization that was secure, because that was my main concern, and a friend of mine had already traveled with IVHQ but he went to Kenya. He gave me all the information and when I look into it I felt it was well organized, everything explain and as soon as I applied they were helping me all they way through until I left Tanzania.
Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Melvin: The problem was the distance, we had to walk like 20-30 minutes to the dala stop, then a 20min ride to town and then more walking to the school. But once we were things went ok. We arrived and reported to the teachers, then the two of us that were there had a braille class where we learn how to write and read. By 12 we had a lunch break of bread and chai and afterwards we spend the rest of the day with the three blind children. What I did was I made lists with English and Swahili words so that they could learn English and I could learn Swahili. By the end, we made a cardboard with a person silhouette and we add pieces of paper where we wrote, in braille, the names of the parts of the body. Another thing we did was, we made bracelets with bells and the children's went crazy when we gave it to them.
What made this volunteer abroad experience unique and special?
Melvin: Going to a country with a different culture was already a unique experience. What I appreciate the most was all the people I met. Not only the volunteers were great, I made a lot of good friends, but also people in Tanzania, the teachers and coordinators were always there to help me and they all made the whole experience as easy as possible. Teaching blind children was just something that I never expect I would do and although at first I was afraid, as days gone by I was really enjoying everything I did. And of course in my free time I travel around Tanzania and that was quite an experience meeting other travelers and more volunteers around the country.
How has this experience impacted your future?
Melvin: Many of the volunteers were teachers so they had some experience but I'm not a teacher so I have to figure it out how to become a teacher. Personally I think it makes me a better person, it helped me to solve problems and survive in an environment which was a lot different from the place I come from. Although I felt really secure all the time, you could not escape from the insecurities of any big city so I had to learn to move by myself there and take care of myself. The whole experience definitely changes you in many ways and it opens your mind and prepares you to new challenges.