Contrasts!!

We live in a world of contrasts... Within one month, in one moment I found myself in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok with it's endless traffic jams and oppressive Carbon Footprint, multi story shopping malls and polluted river courses and in the next, I was experiencing the serenity and simple life of a small village at the edge of the Great Rift Valley overlooking the Eastern Shore of Lake Malawi.

If I ask myself where I'd prefer to be or more specifically, which lifestyle I would choose to adopt, I'd most definitely have to go with the simpler, more "chilled" of the two, Malawi. Why then, do I find myself in an environment resembling Bangkok more? Why do I allow complicated schedules and deadlines, bank accounts and house bonds to crowd out the simple things in life? I had to ask myself, is it purely economic or is it my "Western mentality", my human need to feel "productive"?

The reason for my visit to Malawi was to film some friends of mine who have committed 12 years of their lives to missions. He had an interesting point, "We can adapt to another culture to the point where we exist within it but we will never loose our own." He is an example in the flesh, a project driven individual who seeks to make life easier and more comfortable and more healthy for the people he works amongst. What he does among the people, piping water into villages, installing sanitary slabs for their toilet pits and building sturdier houses could be perceived as the first steps towards technology... does this make him wrong, introducing Western ideas into a community that has functioned adequately for several millennium? Contrary to that, when a local man turns down the offer for a potential income because his crops were good this year... despite the fact that two years ago he was pleading with the same "westerner" for famine relief because his crop failed, does this make him wrong?

There is a fine line between simplicity and productivity? God will most certainly not reward productivity one day when it was at the expense of sleep and healthy family relationships. By the same token, he will not reward the sluggard who does not work to feed his family and accept his lot in life.

I have to admit, I too would look for projects to inspire, motivate and create if I lived within simplicity and maybe that is why I have chosen the "city way". However, I respect and crave what the simple, less complicated, and lets face it, less materialistic side has to offer. It is this contrast that determines who we are, may we be lead by Christ in our determination to find rest in attaining our purpose.

Bubble Heads

Mauritius, another one of those iconic island destinations we hear of so often and only dream of getting to, definitely lives up to it's reputation. What struck me most about this beautiful island apart from the azure waters, palm trees and beaches, was the adventure that it breathes. I have not yet experienced an island with such a vast diversity of activities to indulge in. From water skiing, to sailing, pedalboats and scuba diving, and that was just at the resort where I was staying.

Having said all that, it's the unique experience that I am after and despite the fact that my most recent attempt at water skiing while I was in Mauritius was definitely a far more positive experience than the last time I tried... because I actually got up and achieved a straight run without bouncing multiple times on the water, the experience I'd like to share is one unlike most others I've ever had.

On first impression it reminded me of Jules Verne's classic novel "20000 Leagues under the sea" (or at least, the cover pictures of that novel). More like something from Star wars than an aquatic past time. I still have no clue as to what the official name is but I know first hand that it involves a plastic/ perspex bubble (bell) being placed over your head, (with a winch and pulley I may add), a heavy wait belt around your waist, a deafening, continuous blast of air into the same bell your head shares, a yawn or two and cud chewing action of the jaw to compensate for the pressure you feel around your head, (at this point I imagined my head being nuked in a microwave) and then a nudge from behind to encourage the walk of faith into a blue abyss (okay so maybe it was only four or five meters of water) but it felt like a major separation from the elements above water that I am so familiar with.



My mission was to film the Tropika Island of Treasure contestants participating in their underwater challenge. It took a few minutes to acclimatize to this noisy, awkward bubble on my head and to orientate myself in unfamiliar surroundings, but being comfortable underwater, within a short time I was recording this strange, almost historical event, fish swimming in the hundreds around me as I did so. I'm not sure it's the most practical method of underwater exploration, with pipes following you wherever you venture, it certainly is not the most eco-friendly means as it involves stomping around on the ocean floor but I will say that breathing normally in a bubble of air with an ability to literally talk to yourself underwater as you walk the ocean floor is an experience that I will not soon forget.