Community and Sharing Your Goals

Outside of gratitude, I believe that my most important takeaway from the Malawians is the importance of community. In my personal life, when times get difficult, I tend to internalize whatever is bothering me and push through it. This isn’t good because not interacting with people only makes me more stressed and it contributes to that classic “toxic masculinity cycle” of internalizing problems and allowing them to fester. I realized that I don’t share my successes with people much either and I don’t really know why. Sometimes, I don’t even tell my parents when I get scholarships and they don’t find out until weeks later when I finally mention it. I think I just don’t allow myself to celebrate my successes because I feel like each win is a steppingstone and that I need to keep pushing. While this tendency does keep me driven and determined, my experience in Malawi has helped me realize that it is ultimately detrimental.

            The first thing that inspired me to be more communal is seeing the kids in the villages interact with each other. There were many instances where you could tell how much the kids cared for each other, but two of the things that impacted me most were how none of them were trying to skip the line as we passed food out and how excited the kids were to watch someone else run during duck, duck, goose (DDG). When we had downtime in the village, decided to teach them how to play DDG and tried to divide them into three separate groups so everyone could participate. We had trouble dividing them, so we decided to play a giant game with around 100 kids. I thought they’d get disinterested because only two people can go at a time, but I was surprised at how they cheered on whoever was running. Even the kids standing around the circle were cheering and laughing. You can really tell that the kids care for each other and want to see each other succeed.

            The second thing that was impactful to me was attending a church service on the Sunday before we left. The preacher’s message of the day was about how to turn your dreams to reality, and I though he was going to just talk about being steadfast and making a plan. However, I was surprised when he said the most important thing to do is to share your plan with people that you trust so they can contribute and help you. At Mumbo Island we had a discussion where we shared some things that we’ve taken away from the trip up to that point and I talked about how I was inspired by how important community is in Malawi. I felt like the preacher was talking directly to me and decided that I’d work to share my thoughts, plans, and feelings with people that I trust.

             My experience in Malawi has completely changed my perspective on the importance of community. Now, I’m committed to being more communal, sharing my life with those around me, and recognizing that true strength comes from the support that we give one another.