Volunteer Report “Malawi as seen from the outside”

Name：　Motoe Ishii
Specialty：　Primary School Education

I returned to Japan temporarily in August this year, one year after my posting. I was busy making plans and excited before I returned home. However, about a week after I returned to Japan, a feeling came over me.

“I can't wait to go back to Malawi."

Japan really has everything, and it should never be a problem to live there, but I felt like there was a gaping hole in my heart, and this idea of wanting to go back to Malawi kept going around in my head, and one day I realised that I was even counting down the dates of my return flight.
Malawi is a country I had only lived in for a year, and one that I had never even heard of before joining JOCV. However, as I came into touch with the warmth of the local people and built relationships with them communicating with my clumsy Chichewa, I was able to realise once again how much I had come to love Malawi.
In fact, when I returned to Malawi from Japan, I was very happy to be greeted by people in my place of assignment saying, "We've been waiting for you!"
The main activity, as I mentioned in my previous report, does not seem to be going so well. Instead of teaching the local teachers how to teach, they are constantly helping me. Even so, the local teachers say, "Thank you for coming." And the children say, "Thank you for coming, please come again tomorrow." That single word makes me feel so much better.
There may be very little I can do for this country. However, I think I can tell people that there is a country called Malawi in the world and what Malawi is like after I return to Japan. For that sake, I will do my best remaining six months of my term.