After spending three fantastic months in the beautiful and inspirational surroundings of Malawi, I can safely dive into the pool of cliches and say my life has been transformed. This was only my second time returning to my native land and it came at a point in my life where my eyes were genuinely wide open. I was therefore able to truly soak in all that visual sense data. And soak it in I did.
Having grown up in England, one thing I feel I haven’t really been exposed to in this time is what I’d refer to as true beauty. By this i mean beauty that isn’t afraid to be vulnerable; beauty that has integrity; beauty that isn’t afraid to be itself. Yes, i believe there is beauty in everything and some of the cityscapes, in London for example, are simply wow, but city beauty seems to exist in a shadow of pretense. It lacks a certain authenticity; it’s too busy trying to be what it’s expected to be. That authenticity was evident in every aspect of Malawi.
The natural surroundings of Malawi elicited an internal response i can’t say I had felt before when subject to aesthetic stimuli. True beauty existed in abundance, not only in the landscapes but also in the warm hearts of the people.
I often wonder how it would be to see life from the perspective of a 5 year old, yet maintain the understanding of a fully formed adult. Perhaps that’s exactly how i saw life in Malawi. Wide eyed, almost like a tourist, yet at home, with the curiosity of youth. To me, everyday was a fresh idea, every moment was a brainwave, every thought was an insight. My creativity reached new heights as my perspective on practicality every aspect of life evolved. This was more than a visit, it was a feeling.
