We are on African Time.

My dear family and friends,

Hope all is well. I would first like to say thank you for all of your feedback and responses because it shows that you actually read my e-mails. I am grateful to have such a supportive network.

Work has started to flow faster. I went up to Kumbo two weeks ago with GLOWA staff and a short-term American volunteer to observe awareness talks on child trafficking at schools and HIV/AIDS trainings. Then I got sick and that was the rest of my week (but no worries, I’m fine now!). These past two weeks have been good – I just wrapped up a week-long Strategic Planning session with GLOWA and it went smoothly. This is GLOWA’s first time going through the SP process, so I’m excited to help plan their future for the next three years. I should be doing SP with MICROEDEC next month when the founder returns to Bamenda. I’ll also be traveling next week back up to the North of Cameroon, Ngaoundere, to do Diversity training sessions for the newly-inducted Health and Agroforestry Peace Corps Volunteers’ In-Service Training and their Cameroonian counterparts (mango season is coming soon up there YAY!). I’m telling you, time has just flown by. In three months, I’ll have been in country for one year…can you believe it?! I sure can’t (not that I’m trying to count down or anything, but that means in June I’ll have 15 more months in Cameroon).

I have been meaning to discuss the concept of “African time.” I know many of you are familiar with African time, Indian time, Persian time, C.P. time, etc. (at least my African-American, Indian-American, and Persian-American, friends have told me this) which means essentially the same thing – an event that starts at 1pm doesn’t really begin until…4pm (smile). In the U.S., I would joke about this with my friends – if it’s a social outing, don’t show up to the party until an hour or so later because you’re important and you want to make an entrance. But in Africa it’s real. Seriously, don’t come on time because all you’ll be doing is sitting there and waiting for at least three hours. Bring a book/headphones. To use the popular French phrase “J’arrive” or Pidgin phrase “Am coming” (which actually means, I am leaving you right now and coming back later), you have no idea if they will be “coming” in 10 minutes or hours. Or tomorrow. Funny enough, it’s completely okay to say this. “Am coming” you say, is then followed with nods of approval (I’ve started using this phrase as an excuse to leave). The concept of time and time management is definitely different from ours.

Needless to say, I can sometimes get frustrated with African time. I have already accepted this at cultural ceremonies and festivities (always have a book and bottled water in my purse), but what has been bothering me the most is African time in the work environment. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but things can move s-l-o-w-lllllll-yyyyyy. As Westerners, we are used to the concept of work to be, well, work. You come to the office to do your job, run meetings, complete tasks, and meet deadlines. Here, it seems like people enjoy their time at the office. They work a little, then go on Facebook, then work some more, then have a meeting, then friends come to visit…then hey let’s have a drink…which ends up with drinking the rest of the night. What’s ironic is that people believe in hard work. Office hours are Monday-Saturday, 8-10 hour days. Sunday is the only day of rest. Yet, people enjoy saying “A dey for office.” BUT NOTHING IS GETTING DONE! AHHHHHHHHH!

Disclaimer: This is not every office – there are organizations here that adhere to Western time, like mine.

Yet even as annoyed as I am with this, it’s made me realize that enjoyment of time is a value that Cameroonians hold dear. People don’t understand why Americans are always bouncing from one appointment to another. It’s rude to leave a Cameroonian or refuse a drink when someone invites you to sit down…are you not enjoying your time with them? Westerners are so preoccupied with getting work done and filling in schedules…well, this is why we are the developed world, n’est pas?

This leads me to wonder if we, as Westerners, are really enjoying our lives (thank you, Melissa Wells, for engaging in this topic with me). Which values do we hold the dearest – spending time with loved ones, happiness, conspicuous consumption? Of course I still get impatient when my work here takes forever to begin and/or to accomplish (working on a presidential campaign turned me into a twitchy person), but I’ve begun to deal with it. Especially in a professional setting, I try to reach a happy medium by incorporating American time management and hopefully people will get it. If we have a meeting and the person is late, I’m not going to wait around. If one is really serious about working with me, then one will be on time.

But I will always make time to sit down and hang out, take a drink, and speak some Pidgin. After work. Work hard, play hard.

That’s it for now folks…remind me next time to post about chaos theory, “adventures,” and speaking Pidgin so I don’t forget.

Next time-ohhhhhhhhh!