Relentless Patience

Life continues to be interesting here. I have been trying to change my flight back to the mainland (call me unsophisticated, but once I have seen one grain of sand I feel I know the whole beach) however it has been challenging. It seems that the whole internet has been down for Tanzania/ East Africa; so much so that it made national news. [Perhaps I am being picky here, but I had always understood that the whole point of the internet was that if part of it went down - euphemism for being attacked by baddies - there would be many thousands of alternative routes that the information could take.]

Anyhow, the result was that I have had to really brush-up on my patience and acceptance skills. (OK, they're not really skills yet, perhaps they're more like intentions). Fortunately I was already prepared for this by my brother who advised me that I would need to practice Relentless Patience whilst I am here – he knows a thing or two.

So this morning, after sweating more than a few litres in the Cathedral at the Palm Sunday service (real palms, none of your dried stuff here!) I finally managed to change the flight.

One thing of interest (to me, that is – you may not be so taken with it) has been discovering a simile for the African Attitude. I cannot pretend that I fully understand the culture, but I have been faced with the differences so many times that I have thought about it a lot. Today I asked someone the way to the Airline Office and he pointed across the road and said to go straight down the alley. I gaily crossed the street and set off, passing the various crumbling houses, half built houses and really rather nice places until I came to a turning. Following a dog-leg I continued straight then came to a T-junction before deciding to go right then immediate left as this was the closest to ‘straight-on’ that I could find. And so it continued...

And the point of this? Well, in the UK I would put in all the details of lefts/ rights/ turns etc. but here, just giving the general direction is assumed to be enough. A far more simple approach, thus easier to understand, but one that leaves room for error and therefore problems. In Tanzania I have found many people to be pretty laid back, taking a simple approach to life, however things often go wrong. The difference being that they don’t get all wound-up about it – Hakuna matata (which is used here in Zanzibar to mean no problem, but also no rush).

So it seems to me that it’s 

Africa = laid back but things can, and will, go wrong 

or 

The West = precision (and stress) but less chance of problems. 

Hmmmm..... Is there a third choice?