Home, sweet home. But where is our luggage?

After the arduous journey which started back on Monday we finally reached home last night. Catching the flight soon after 11pm on Tuesday from Lilongwe airport we flew overnight to Nairobi in Kenya. We chatted to a Malawian gentleman on the way. He was the president of the Malawian Paralympics team and he was off to Kenya to meet other African counterparts to discuss London 2012. He is an athlete, racing in the wheelchair sprint and will be competing in London in 2012. After meeting him we'll certainly be looking out for how they are doing and giving them our full support. He talked about the struggle he is getting for support back at home, how no-one gives those with disability a chance and that they are left by the wayside in life. His dream is to change this; good luck to him. After arriving in Nairobi at 6am we had a wait of a few hours to catch the next plane back to Amsterdam. This was a nine hour flight and the three of us did our best to catch up with a little sleep. Luckily the journey ran smoothly and after a quick dash in Amsterdam, to catch our connection to Manchester we were on our way to the United Kingdom. On arrival we headed to collect our luggage but heard our names called out over the tanoy system. Worried that our baggage was being searched and that the wooden gifts we had bought back might contravene customs and excise rules, we wandered off to the office. When there, we were even slightly relieved to hear that our bags were still in transit; at least we weren't in trouble. Somewhere along our flight our suitcases had missed a connection. However, we have been assured that they should reach us sometime today...we shall see. After arriving home I said my hellos, gave my family hugs and disappeared off to bed with my last few ounces of energy. This morning I have woken up and got out of my bed without having to untangle my mosquito net, not had to look on the floor incase a cockroach was lurking, taken out my clean clothes that smell of lovely perfumed conditioner, had a nice warm shower and had lovely cold milk on my cereals; all things I usually take for granted. I wonder how long it will take me to fall back into not appreciating these simple things in life. I've turned on the computer without worrying about the fact that there may be no electricity, the internet connects immediately and my lamp lights up my work area. We've had an amazing time, a life changing experience and hopefully this will enrich what we teach at school. We're looking forward to share what we have seen and learnt with the teachers and learners in our schools as well as with the wider communities and our own families. This blog doesn't end here. I'll be updating it with photos of the visit as well as work we are doing in our own schools so that all can see, please call back often. Thank you for reading the blog, with 1000 hits over the past 11 days it has been worthwhile doing. Perhaps it will have inspired you to one day visit the wonderful Malawi....the warm heart of Africa.