And They're Off...INDEVOURS 2015

Well, one year ago, I was nervously preparing to leave my family and friends in Canada, to head off to Malawi, via a quick stopover visit with my German family.  I spent 8 months working at the Jesuit Refugee Service of Malawi, in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, and that time spent in Lilongwe and the rest of the country made clear to me where I was going to be living (hopefully, for life).  I am extremely happy to be done with my studies and off into the 'real world', and am loving working at ABC Christian Academy in Lilongwe, but I know that I would never have seen this in my future at this time last year!  Thank God for that, because I had a lot of learning to do before I was ready for this adventure!

This is the week that the INDEVOURs of 2015 are heading out to their respective placements in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Nepal, Peru, Senegal, and Vietnam.  Two lucky INDEVOURS will be joining me in the ranks of those who experience Malawi, and I hope that their placements impact their lives in similar ways to my time on placement last year.
The 8 month placement that the International Development program at the Unviersity of Waterloo requires are some of the hardest and biggest months of growth for most of us who have completed it.  Prepare to have mood swings of an intensity you have never before encountered - you can go from loving where you are to vehemently hating it, in a matter of seconds.  I pray that for this year's INDEVOURS, they will experience more of the 'loving' than hating', and that when they are able to step back, process, and reflect on their time on placement, they will come to the same conclusion that I did.  Yes, as a new program, INDEV has its flaws, but the placement supercedes all aspects of irritation as it prepares new graduates extremely well for work in their field, and gives them an accurate picture of what their future may look like, if they choose to continue in the development field.
And Ian and Alison - Takulandirani!  Welcome to Malawi!

INDEVOURS 2015 (Click the picture to go to their website and investigate their placements and blogs!)