For those of you that know me, you know I’ve always be a very busy person. I’m always running around working, hanging with friends, keeping active or just keeping busy. That’s the north American way it seems at least. Well out here there’s a thing called African time. This isn’t a racial term or anything bad, it’s just a simple explanation that almost nothing here runs according to plans. This is caused by break downs, lack of communication, weather or just getting caught up talking. Being late seems to be the norm out here and As a Higher strung person this has taken a bit to adjust too. I thought I was doing well but sometimes my ingrained higher strung “get it done” attitude come s back. This is a culture that teaches you that not everything is dyer need and it’s ok to the it easy. sometimes I feel it’s taught that laid back attitude too well when this actually do need to stick to a schedule, there must be a happy medium in there somewhere.
Well the Zambian culture has been a bit of a shock to me, and just plain confusing at times. Most of the time it’s been great, lots of happy people, not as stressful and very loving. This is not a place to go if you don’t like to be touched by other people. The hand shakes are a bit more complex than the typical NA hand shake, but that hand shake can remain for the length of a conversation. In fact it’s common to see two men or women walking down the street holding hands, and no they aren’t gay cause that’s actually illegal here. One thing I do suggest is hand sanitizer just because our systems are not used to the bugs out here.
Marketplace and main street in Magrimundi
It’s hard to believe the professional people you see working in some of these towns actually live in small brick shacks with pit outhouses and no running water or electricity. It actually confuses me seeing man and women walking to and from the village and then go to work in a suit or dress all professional. These houses usually are 1-3 rooms and house 4 to 8 people. Looking back on how much space we use back home and how most people have there own room, it’s no wonder we’re a more selfish society and like our bubbles of space. Guess when you live in tight quarters you learn to work together more and have moRe patience . These African kids can sleep through a storm no problem cause they learn how to sleep in crowds. They just seem to work more as a unit than most families I know back at home. One thing that got me was the behaviour, they can sit still and obey, and even help work or walk KMs to the market or bore hole at. Way younger age. Maybe at home we make it to easy on kids, might be time to start responsibilities sooner! I know when we stayed at Brian’s house it was amazing the instant change we would see in his two young daughters. They were so happy, energetic and creative the whole time, singing and brushing my hair or playing with the dog. Then out came the tablet with the games one of our guys brought and their whole demeanor changed! Suddenly they were sedative, almost lazy, they tuned out those around them, defied their parents and whined, and then threw a mini tantrum when they couldn’t pass a level. As soon as I took it away she snapped back into reality, heard her sister playing and joined in. That was a scarey realization of just how bad electronics are for kids.
So this blog has been a bit more of a ramble about some of the differences from Canada to here. Some great, some not so great. All in all this society is a pretty good laid back one. It has a ways to go in development but at the same time there are a few things we could learn from them,like patience. The place we’re in now, Kalomo, has weekly power outages every Tuesday and Thursday night for a few hours around dinner time.
This is the way of life here so everyone is prepared, but back home everyone would be screaming about the inconvenience. The water gets turned off randomly too, can’t imagine all the complaints back home if that happened constantly. I don’t know about you but think God is trying to show me here that we have it really really good in Canada. No matter where you are you have power, water and paved roads. We are blessed and think we just need to remember that a bit more! So take a deep breathe next time your schedule is messed up and remember it’s not the end of the world, you’re alive, so life is good!!