Why?

Orphanages, hospices and hospitals in Eswatini rarely have budgets to decorate their walls, so isolated or poorly people spend hours at home or in a hospital bed staring at a blank wall. There is a proven link between looking at calming and beautiful images and improved physical health. Gazing at something that is positive helps calm the mind, which in turn helps calm the body. It isn’t an immediate cure, but it certainly helps. 

Michelle’s belief in the power of this positivity is how Lifting Spirits started. In 2011, she was unexpectedly poorly and spent two weeks in an isolation ward at hospital. James was with her the whole time, though she wasn’t well enough to talk, read, watch television and so on. But what she did have was a spectacular photograph at the end of her bed – of blue skies and rolling green hills. The beauty she saw everyday dramatically helped her mind go to wonderful places, not negative ones, supporting her relatively rapid recovery. Lifting Spirits was borne from Michelle’s hope that she could do the same for others. Over the years, she has been delighted to receive very positive feedback from those in the orphanages, hospices and hospitals.