B&B's Blantyre Blog

On 11th October I had my first ugly cry since arriving.   I 'd been warned that it was going to happen at some point, but I'd naively thought that I was doing pretty good and had no need for feeling sad emotions! We've been doing well since moving, I've loved so much about being here, nothing tragic has happened and we've settled in quite comfortably. Yes there have been a few frustrations, but they've just meant that we've had time to rest and learn the new culture. Or so I thought. But I hadn't acknowledged that I'd been internalising a lot of these frustrations, causing me to think of myself as a failure and to get annoyed at the culture. And I'd been feeling guilty about both. I hadn't acknowledged that it's actually been a bit hard. And that's okay! I was also stopping myself from grieving and accepting the pain of leaving, which is a part of the process of moving. Below is an extract from a bit I wrote in my journ

We’re well and truly into the flow of life in Malawi now! The last couple of weeks have seen us move into the territory of really living here (as opposed to previous short-term visits), which has brought up a whole heap of emotions, frustrations, and learning moments. More on that later. Let’s start on a positive note with some of the things from the past few weeks that we’ve loved having the opportunity to be involved with. Firstly, we are so enjoying developing deeper relationships with the members of the church. Malawi is known as ‘the warm heart of Africa’, and the welcome we have received from the people here reflects this famous warmth. We’ve had many fun times, laughed loads, and also had the opportunity to share our testimonies, and have deeper heart-to-hearts with particular members of the church. It’s hard leaving a support network of close friends and family that we could laugh, cry and cuddle with, but it’s exciting to think about what the relationships we are beg