Reminiscing: Moving Back To Malawi From East Africa

Hey Hey!

I made a statement in one of my posts about doing some “throw back” kind of blog posts on some past experiences and I’ve really been wondering how I should do that and if it was a good idea at all to mention it because why not just let the past stay where it belongs right? 

Wrong. 

I have realized that these past experiences have shaped who I am today- my worldview, my perceptions, how I relate with people etc etc. so essentially the past is still very present with me...in a good way.

As I was thinking over the past few days the word reminiscing kept coming to my mind- just like that (or maybe not just like that...I may have been thinking back on life and such but I don’t fully remember). And I was thinking about how to pronounce it. Tried it out loud, and at the time of writing this I was still not convinced that I was pronouncing it right so I later looked it up on google and listened to the pronunciation and I can finally say it right.

But yea, the short of the story is that I am starting a “reminiscing” series which I’m not sure how long it will go on for or if it will be continuous (as in one after another), but a series it shall be. 

I hope we can learn something together along the way so do read on...

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February, 2014

We were out for an unplanned long adventure and we learned A LOT, and changed A LOT. 

A whole 5 years away from home; living in a new language, with new people, new culture, new food, new environment, new weather, new time zone, new way of living...a lot was new, and exciting, and sometimes frustrating, but all a beautiful experience in the end.

At the Boarding Gate

I honestly didn’t care to return home (to Malawi) to stay anymore. I was home in Tanzania and I would have loved to stay there longer. After about exactly 5 years, though, we had to return, and this change too was a lot- somewhat exciting and overall just interesting. 

I don’t think I really knew what to expect. I hadn’t thought much about what it would be like to be back home in Malawi again to stay. It was exciting to pack up the whole house to leave again, to go on another aero plane ride, to find another place to stay, to go through all those motions.

The first year back was baby steps- finding our footing. A LOT had changed and in our old circle of friends we were the odd ones out. It took a few interactions with old familiar faces to realize that a lot had changed. Things were just not as straightforward as before, relationships with people were not just flowing and continuing as before. The levels of suspicion were difficult to comprehend- when all we wanted was to be free to come and go as before. To just be.

But by and by, with time, we found our footing. We learned our new environment. We learned to trust God more and love each other more. We were each other’s friends. And as we bloomed further we made new friends and re-learned the old ones.

Last month (February) marked exactly 7 years since we’ve been back.

I can say, so far so life lessons- big and small. So far so God is in control, and by His grace we are much stronger than we were when we began. We continue to trust His perfect plan for our lives as we go on living for Him. And definitely, so far so home is best because there’s just something about being home. 

Yet my heart still remains in many other places that it still calls home- Tanzania and Kenya. It will always be a part of me, a part of my family.