During her CorpsAfrica service in Malawi’s Mulanje District, Assiatu Pongolani taught at a local Orphan Centre. She helped with lessons, games, and feeding children every day. As a trained and experienced Grassroots Soccer Coach, Assiatu graduated 21 students during her service with the aim of empowering and engaging the youth in order to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Additionally, she also did substantial work with the Village Development Committee to decide how to design a bridge project to link a large section of a community to where the main resources are such as the market. She believes that active citizen participation is a key to development in the African continent. Continuing with her Volunteering carrier with CorpsAfrica, Assiatu served in Senegal as an Exchange Volunteer in Elinkine Village in Ziguinchor. She worked with the Women’s Association to implement a Food Transformation project with 21 women as an income-generating activity with an aim to preserve and transform different kinds of food such as grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. She also trained community women, primary and secondary school students, and fellow CorpsAfrica/Senegal Volunteers of Group 2 and Group 3 on hand sewing and reusable sanitary pads for hygiene and sanitation as a way of sharing best practices from Malawi with Senegalese communities. Assiatu has worked closely with Peace Corps Volunteers in Malawi by helping, planning, and implementing Girls Leading Our World camps for five consecutive years. She was the first ever Malawian young woman involved in a coordinating team among the Peace Corps Volunteers since its birth in Malawi. As the Program Officer, Assiatu has been working with a non-profit youth organization in Mitundu that deals with young people with HIV/AIDS, climate change, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender for more than five years. Assiatu also volunteered internationally in Thurso, Scotland on a Global Exchange program where she worked with local communities. Assiatu has a Diploma in Community Development that she obtained from Skyway University in 2016.