Dont just feel at home, BE at home!

I heard this statement at a church i visited on sunday, and it really made me think.
The guy welcomed all visitors by saying "feelings often deceive us my friends, so don't just FEEL at home, BE at home."

In Australia there is no way i would have met as many people as i have in malawi in such a short time, and certainly not from such a large variety of different circles. I wanted to feel at home, and as the statement above suggests, i have learnt that this involves a very proactive approach.

It all started the night i made myself a banana cake. It was in my second week here i think. I had no recipe for the cake, so it was a bit of guess work. it came out of the oven and i suddenly felt rather sad... i had a whole cake to myself, and no one to share it with. so a few moments of sadness later and i put the cake on a plate took a knife and went outside with a hot freshly cooked banana cake on a mission to find someone to share it with. It was the best fun! how often do we do that at home?? i have to be honest, i can't even tell you the names of my neighbours in ballarat... i wave to them all the time, but their names? no idea! i was so convicted...and so excited! The house i chose was my friend Wheka, she had visitors, so we all polished off the cake (which turned out very nicely... but i have not been able to repeat it, last time i think i forgot something vital as it tasted terrible) anyway, it made me realise i just had to get out there and create my community. and so i did.

Some of the people i have met:

I met Hazel at imigration while waiting in a line for hours, she has since taken on the role of being a social coordinator for me, she has introduced me to a variety of different people and rings me regularly to see how im going.

I met Nora at the bus stop one day, she is taking me to a volunteer teenage aids support program with partners in hope in a few weeks.

I had dinner on Wednesday night with a Texan couple. Sarah grew up in Nigeria where her parents were missionaries, her husband john is Indian, they both went to college in Texas, where they met and married and are now spending 2 years here in Malawi. They picked me up, cooked me an awesome meal, sent me home with left overs enough to not have to cook a few meals and then dropped me home again!

I had dinner on Thursday night with a Malawian born expat doctor who has lived in the uk for the last 5 years, a Scottish guy who has just taken over managing his own restaurant from his parents, a dutch guy who spent more than 15 years living in Malawi, who has just returned from living in Perth studying environmental sciences and development, now working with total land care, an NGO in Malawi, along with a Canadian girl who is here for two years also working at total land care.

I spent one weekend away with a girl named lisa (another AVI volunteer) we explored senga bay and while walking along the beach i ran into my friend Lucy. so even malawi is a small world.

.......Do you know what it has involved. Being willing to just put yourself out there and take risks. I think there is a freedom in the situation I am in. you see I have no choice, its either leap out of your comfort zone, or sit at home and wallow in your sorrows. I had a few days of that early on, and there is nothing good about it. Except to give you a mighty big kick up the backside and start thinking with some perspective, some vision, and a grand dose of positive thinking.

Im amazed at the different people I have been meeting, absolutely amazed!!
I am also thankful that the majority of people in my circle of new friends are locals, as it often happens that expats/volunteers/missionaries/other mzungus can tend to mix with their own groups way to much! so i am pretty excited about the variety of friendships that i have made.

There is such a variety of people here in the international community. Very rich expats who have moved to Malawi to make their millions, expats who have lived in zimbabwe all their lives and moved to malawi since the unrest, Missionaries from UK, US, Norway, Canada & Sweden. Aid and development workers from all over the world on short and long term contracts. Volunteers from all over the world & Tourists from all over the world...and many more groups of people. And everyone has different personalities, different motives for being here, different values in life, different opinions on life, politics, religion, development, aid, business, relationships, judgements & different upbringings.

As you can imagine the conversations have been many and varied, I feel like a giant sponge. I am developing new opinions and concpets, being challenged in previous thoughts and ideas, and my own convictions and visions have been confirmed and strengthened.