Red Out Loud

The truth is when I think about what motivated me to take this trip I realize it is as much a selfish adventure as it is a journey to help the children and the people of Malawi. I am not sure of just how much help they actually need from little old me. A culture rich in its own simplicity, I worry, what can I teach them? I would be lying if I said that this was an entirely selfless act, and I think everyone who does volunteer work would agree. There are things I hope to gain from this experience. On top of that it would be presumptuous to suggest that what I have to bring to the table will be of worth to an already rich and exquisitely simple culture. I have as much to bring as I have to gain. While I am so excited to nurture and teach I am just as excited to learn and to grow. I have never in my life done a thing where the end product was not obvious from the outset. Never started something that I did not know the end of. Very often, in fact, I start something and never finish it. So the truth is I have imagined all sorts of scenarios, relationships, huts, homes, people, class schedules, games and the faces to match the children we will teach so many songs to, the trip, in my small mind, has happened virtually. It is hard for me to imagine that I actually just can’t imagine it at all. That I just have to wait and see. And that I know I will come back a different me. The next time I write to you I will have an idea of what exactly I have gotten myself into and until then I am going to try and stop supposing what this adventure is all about. All I know is I hope I can make a difference for the people I will meet just as, and this I know for sure, they will make a difference in me.

Two pics.

What I brought.

and who I left behind.

The heart does ache for Charley.

But I have a feeling this “warm heart of africa” will seriously help to fill that temporary void. Sorry, Charley ;)