"welcome home"

Malawi. Wow. Amazing.

It seems so normal to be here, sometimes like I never left.
My journey here was LONG, I had an awesome awesome stopover in Perth hanging out with the fabulous Dawn, she could not have been a better person to help send me on my way!! I met fun people at airports and on flights, I managed to lose a block of chocolate (devastating), dropped money in the J’burg airport toilet, and nearly got on the wrong plane (but that was along with about 100 other people) the bus drove us across the tarmac to the flight to Zambia, the mistake was discovered about half way through boarding. Hysterical. Ahhh Africa.
The whole flight to Lilongwe was great Chichewa practice, I quickly discovered that my ability to understand was still pretty intact, but my talking needed some major practice, which caused great amusement for everyone sitting around me. Oh I miss Malawians and their joy!! There is no doubt Malawi lives up to its aptly named “Warm heart of Africa!”. Flying into Lilongwe has scored a place on my life’s favorite moments list. Indescribable emotions.
When I arrived at the airport we were stuck standing next to the plane for about half an hour waiting for the president to get off his Kenyan flight. There was a giant red carpet, a fantastic band, flags, TV Malawi, crowds of people, a convoy of shiny black four wheel drives and hundreds of soldiers lining the procession of people and carpet. So I managed to score a pretty sensational welcome at the same time!!! It nearly matched Wekhas enthusiasm at the gate when I arrived, so so fabulous to see her again!

I don’t even think my feet have hit the ground yet. So much to see, experience, remember and feel. Im overwhelmed, excited, blessed, exhausted, challenged, and……just where I want to be.

So here’s a summary of first impression so far…

Things that have changed:
· There are heaps more robots in town (traffic lights) When I first moved to Malawi I think there were about 2 sets, now they are everywhere!!!
· Hundreds more cars, but no new roads… traffic jams “kwambili”
· Brand new (very fancy) Parliament house. They used to meet in the presidents house, but the Chinese have built a new one…. A bit over the top if you ask me….
· You can recharge your phone units with $10 at a time now! Amazing! sure beats topping up $1 at a time!!
· There are new shops everywhere, and many many building renovations are happening
· The roundabout in old town has a lovely fountain in it… pretty funny for a town whose water is frequently out!
· The roads have improved sooo much! There are fewer potholes, or atleast their depth and width have reduced, and there are “sections” of dual lane roads all over the place. I am a bit confused about the changes, there are three lanes leading up to the roundabouts for about 10 metres before and after, but then back to single lane… weird!
· There are wireless Internet hotspots everywhere. Not that it works all that often.
· Brand new mobile phone network called zain, so all of the buildings in town sponsored by celltell have gone from being painted red and yellow to pink & purple. Very beautiful. Ah multinational corporations.
· Petrol is over $2 a litre, there are many more petrol stations, and even some out of the major towns.
· They don’t routinely fit four people across in the minibus anymore, and if the conductor insists, you can fight him and only pay half for your seat.
· Cheese is nearly $10 for a tiny block and butter is about $6 a block….but you can still get “out of the fridge margarine” for dirt cheap… and questionable taste…. You can buy all sorts of fun things at the supermarket now, the range of products available has definately increased… you can get cous cous, pantene shampoo, new underwear…You can now buy nearly everything in malawi…at a cost…although they still don’t sell tampons.
· There are pedestrian crossings… but it’s hit and miss if people will actually stop for you.
· Everything is wwaaayy more expensive

Things still the same:
· Malawi is without question the warm heart of Africa, just as any community there are always a few odd exceptions, but the generosity, joy and welcoming community is good to be amongst.
· Its still easier and cheaper to buy soft drink and beer than safe drinking water.
· Bucket showers & handwashing clothes are the order of the day
· I still stand out in a crowd. It is impossible to blend in. South African accents still make me giggle, I can still catch a mozzie, and tell the difference between rat poo and gekho poo. And I havn’t lost the ability to carry water on my head.
· Most business, if not all, are owned by Indians
· Women often wear formal dresses around town. Taffeta and silk are in.
· Short ties, suits that are slightly to big and shiny pointy dress shoes are in for men
· Twice in one day my minibus broke down, the door fell off once and the back window smashed as they were jump starting backwards down the road.
· Its not at all uncommon to find rocks in the rice and the bread.
· There are avocadoes as big as my head. No joke. They are astounding.

· I will not eat rats on a stick
· Painting half of the tree trunk with white paint is cool
· Corruption and dishonest communication are still crippling many programs
· Way to many coffin making shops. The demand for business is horrifically high
· Despite many many visible changes the standard of living, immense poverty and injustice that leaves children dying of preventable illnesses and young people living only until their late 30s causes me great shame when I think about how we live in Australia. Once again I am challenged immeasurably.

The best things
· Without question, it has been seeing dear friends again. I had a little fear that maybe people would have moved on, or forgotten me, or wouldn’t have missed me as much as I missed them, but the highlight of being here has been the reunions of friendships that I totally underestimated how special they were. The staff at the village knew I was coming at some stage, but didn’t really know when, so it was a rather fun surprise to walk into my old workplace and to the village. Fun times.
· Seeing the many grown up kids in the village. So far I have only been visiting, so I can’t wait until I live there next week to hang out like we used to. They have grown up so much, and so many of them have become amazing young people. Many cool stories and photos to come. I feel like a proud mama.
· To me, a place becomes home when you can walk into your favorite café and they know what you usually order… even after 2 years… Dianna & Ellen at the bohemian café are still working there, and possibly my favorite moment so far was the rib-crushing hugs I got from them both and the screams of delight when I walked in for the first time. Dianna was so proud of herself bringing me the same meal I ordered every Saturday after my market shopping for two years. I was so happy I cried.
· 2 weeks and no sickness. But then again I do have well refined guts of steal.
· Random people I have never met asking me “How is Australia”
· I looove the pace of life. It is taking more time than I thought to beat the fast pace life out of me, Or to shelve the expectations and just BE. I guess I should be thankful that it’s quicker than when I lived here, back then these lessons took 6 months, but now I don’t have that much time, so ironically… I need to hurry up to loose the western culture, so I can enjoy the slowness.
· I have been writing, pondering life and dreaming more in this past week than in the past 2 years. I love love love it!

The worst things:
· Deaths. There have been toooo many. It sucks. I’m hurting. And it is exceptionally hard to grieve here. Which is a lesson I know all to well. One very special friend died a few months before I arrived, Agogo’s life impacted me massively. She was one of the people I was most excited about seeing. I am devastated, I didn’t know she had passed away and it hurts. Deeply.
· I wish someone was here with me to do this adventure…there is so much I want to talk about and chat about. The amount of reflection & processing that is going on in my head is sure to send me crazy if I don’t start talking it out. Being here again is raising so many unfinished thoughts and feelings. Maybe that’s a part of the reason I needed to come back.
· It is different not having a specific role here this time around. I’m finding I have to re-learn some of the same lessons as last time, to prioritise people not tasks, throw my expectations of myself out the window and just authentically do life with people.

The funniest things:
· The common wedding decorations are still pink and blue toilet paper, I must remember to ensure that on my wedding day the rings are delivered on a metal plate on top of scrunched up colored toilet paper piles. Beautiful. Hehe.
· Robots are highly confusing in malawi. I was initially baffled by the orange and green light on at the same time, but I thought this possibly meant, go, but do so slowly… a sentiment not shared by any cars on the road… but when I saw the red and green light on simultaneously?? What the heck does that mean? No one else knew either
· Lady having the baby on the mini bus. She was much more calm than me.
· Loving pulling out my Chichewa skills at opportune times, like when they are all discussing how much extra they’ll charge me thinking I don’t understand… a little Chichewa can go a looong way!
Things I am learning:
· PERSPECTIVE!!!
· I need to be a more honest communicator and less of a people pleaser
· Maybe I should have only come for a few weeks….any longer and I’m going to keep on falling in love with everything again…. Maybe I never stopped… but there is very little in Australia that reminds you of life in malawi… and so being here is bringing up a lot of feelings… it will be hard to leave again.
· Without faith - something bigger than ourselves to believe in, life is a different colour, a little bit emptier and without the same inspiration.
· I am at a major cross roads in my life. I quit my job and I’m back in Malawi, the plans beyond this are pretty unclear. Ahhhhh… there is a lot to decide. Any bright ideas. Let me know.
· I definitely made the right decision to return to Malawi for this visit, absolutely stoked about the next few months!!!