top7

Working on Africa Time & barbed wire

Sawubona (Hello) from Nzinga!

When we made our two week schedule a while back, Sheri commented that our second week looked a little spare. I assured her we would need the full two weeks despite a series of things schedule in the first week that seemed like sure things, and all of the planning and coordination we’d done. Sure enough, one or two things delayed meant another few things needed to be pushed back, and we’re now looking at a very, very busy second week here. And today, I was part of the problem (more on that later in this post).

Africa reminds me of Hawaii, in that everyone is late (tours scheduled on the hour every hour never leave on time in Hawaii, etc.). It is just a different culture regarding time and time lines. Maybe it is that civilization has been here longer and they just see time differently, or that so little happened for so long that even when they go slower, it seems very fast to them. Whatever it is, today, it turns out, I was the biggest delay…

While unloading supplies of posts and fencing at one of the creches, I briskly walked directly into a strand of barbed wire strung about 5′ 11″ above the ground. Unfortunately, I am 6′ tall, and now have a 5″ long gash in the top of my head. Luckily, today was one of the two days/month a doctor is in town. He cleaned me up, spread it apart, and announced he could only see my skull in a couple of small places and so I didn’t need stitches. Anyway, I had a tetanus shot recently, he had iodine and some antibiotics, and bandaging. So, after a few hours of taking it easy this afternoon, we’ll be at it again tomorrow, digging post holes, stringing fencing, and getting ready for the gardening training. Don’t worry, I’m fine. And now I’ll have a great story to tell about the scar on my head (as soon as I make up one that is better than accidentally walking into barbed wire.)

Tom

Leave a Reply