The smiles of the children you help at Open Arms will stay with you long after you return home. Volunteering is an opportunity to help vulnerable children who appreciate the care, and see the amazing difference this makes. You will develop your skills, experience a rich African culture, explore Malawi, and meet some great people.
I’m Alice and I’m from Scotland. I am currently on a gap year before starting university so I am spending several months at Open Arms volunteering. I found out about Open Arms through my old school who support the charity and many people recommended coming here, so very quickly I was booking my flight to come out to Malawi.
Each day I help feed the babies, help in the kitchen with dishes or preparing snacks and lots of play time with the babies.I also often visit the older kids at Harrogate House and play or do tasks like drawing or learning new numbers and words with them.
It’s very special here to be able to see the children grow so quickly and get noticeably stronger and more confident everyday. Each child has such a unique and strong personality and it’s amazing to see the bond they have to each of the mothers.
Working with the house mothers every day, you really get to learn about them and their culture. Everyone is also incredibly friendly so will always help you out or show you something new.
The first few days were a little tricky, trying to figure out what to do, learning everyone’s names and finding the nearest Spar/shop, but I quickly settled in and everyone was very welcoming and helpful. Now two months in, the thing I enjoy the most is helping the children in developing different tasks like throwing a ball or learning to walk. Even a good hug with a child is very rewarding and when they laugh, you can’t help but also laugh.
I would definitely recommend volunteering here. There are so many wonderful things to do and amazing people to meet. Malawi is such an interesting country and in your free time there are lots of amazing things to go see and do. Overall, my experience so far volunteering with Open Arms has been amazing and so interesting!
If you're interested in volunteering in Malawi, then please get in touch.
Your donation will help children in Malawi grow up healthy with the love of a family
Donate