Love from a distance

With the challenges that careers are posing in everyday life, more and more couples are found living distances apart for several reasons, ranging from careers to children’s education or even lack of a house. But how do you make such relationships work? Cheu Mita finds out.

For Associate professor Linda Kalirani Phiri, meeting her love Lindani eight years ago was the best thing that ever happened to her. However, because of pursuits in her career and similar ones in Lindani, the couple has had to live oceans apart and in two different continents and still make their marriage work.

Linda and Lindani met in North Carolina USA, while Linda was pursuing her doctorate and Lindani was working as an IT expert.

They fell in love and now eight years down the line, they have a wonderful baby boy, Jayden, and still live in two different worlds with Linda working at the College of Medicine in Malawi while Lindani still in the USA.

“It’s dedication, making sure even though we are far apart, we talk everyday. Talking and sharing experiences when we are part and together and making the best of the time that we are together,” shares Linda.

Linda says that everytime she and her husband meet, it is like a honeymoon all over again.

“You are always looking forward to the next meeting,” she says and adds that it is also an opportunity to not take each other for granted and cherish every moment together while accepting that it’s tough.

With social networking, long distance relationships are made easier and more affordable. Families can chat online, skype, Facebook and use many other ways of communicating without having to make long distance calls which are expensive.

Funny enough, there are so many websites that offer advice for long distance relationships.

Whether the distance is within the same country or over country or continental boundaries, longdistance.com advises that couples must think of their relationship as a challenge.

“Thanks to the internet, keeping in touch with your sweetheart abroad is not as expensive as other modes of communication in the past. So there’s no reason for you to subscribe to that rubbish “distance makes the heart forget”!

“You can exchange e-mails, chat and call each other. You may send flying kisses via webcams or flood each other’s social networking site with sweet nothings!”