When you don't like a place...

...you are not inclined to write about it. And so my blog ended rather abruptly after a combination of no wifi, little electricity and virtually no inspiration! I've never had this experience before of living somewhere I don't love and, after about 10 days of being here, I realised it wasn't a place I would be liking any time soon! And things, on the whole, have only plateaued these 9 months or, unbelievably, got worse!

I do remain somewhat hopeful and open to change but I cannot deny that Malawi is a disappointment. Not that I ever had high hopes for it. I guess my instincts from all eternity were right: I have never had any interest in (sub-saharan) Africa and I still don't have any interest in it! Africa and I am almost incompatible. Well, there is hope: it might be nice to get to Mozambique to the coast and see white sand and turquoise sea and amazing, large shells on the beach... I have seen evidence of this from my neighbour's photos!

The 'Warm Heart of Africa' lie we'd been fed since England really annoyed me as soon as I realised I would never, ever fit in... because I am white and therefore I am less than a human: a walking, talking cash machine who must be lied to, conned and cheated. The hope of calling Malawi home ended at that realisation. I had wanted to befriend Malawians and treat them as equals and vice versa but it was not to be... and slowly people admitted this. And then the alternative was to mix with expats but there are few...

But God must have a purpose for us to be here... even if it is only purgation. So we shall be grateful and see what His plan has in stall for us!

As we were just about to step off the plane I spied this tattoo
on the arm of a fellow traveller -
it was the motto of St Francis of Assisi:
"Peace and Goodness be with you".
Perhaps God was blessing us as we were just about to embark upon our new life...