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Published: September 17th 2008
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Looks kind of like the view of the holy isle from Arran
...but it's the view of Lizard Island from Senga Bay on a cold, windy, rainy day in the middle of the dry season. Life on Malawian Time
I would call it African time (as a lot of people do) but that’s quite a generalization so I’ll call it Malawian Time, as even the Malawians call it this. I have been experiencing more of this than usual recently so thought I’d write a little bit about it. I have so far spent one evening and two days in Lilongwe working on picking up my Temporary Employment Permit (confirmed as having been approved for 3 years) and clearing our project vehicle, which has arrived in the country. The fruits of my labor? The vehicle remains seated outside the clearing agent’s offices where it has been for the past 6 days and I have not yet laid eyes on my permit approval.
I won’t tell you all of the details as that would take too long but I’ll tell you a little bit about how things are going with the vehicle clearance. Once current hospital driver Kapoza stopped jumping up and down with excitement after laying eyes on the vehicle for the first time (this says a lot considering he is usually so relaxed he is practically horizontal) we spent the majority of the first
evening sitting in front of a lady at the Malawi Revenue Authority. It facilitated matters a great deal that a colleague's brother worked for the authority in a different part of Malawi.
By the time this part of the process was over we were too late to do anything else. When we returned to Lilongwe the next day we spent several hours waiting in various rooms in the offices of our clearance agent. One particular lady filled out a form so slowly that even my Malawian colleague had to comment afterwards. She then realized she had made a mistake and had to start all over again, first slowly placing carbon copy sheets between pages and making sure the edges all lined up perfectly.
With the completed forms from the clearing agent, we went to the bishop’s office. As the hospital is part of the Lilongwe Diocese, our vehicle can be imported duty free once we have approval from the appropriate people there. Unfortunately, we arrived at the offices just after the beginning of lunchtime, which seems to be of standard two and a half hour duration in Malawi. That sounds a long time but when you think about
A fish bbq prepared by a local 'beach boy'
Me with med students/doctors Doug, Eileen and Martine. As it was too windy to eat on the beach we were invited in to the chef's house. After seeing an emaciated body lying in the corner of the room we asked if we could sit outside. That is dirt on my knee - I didn't realize until I saw the photo. the fact that many people have to collect firewood and water before they even begin to make lunch, it makes some sense. We sat in the shade outside the offices waiting for time to pass. The bishop’s secretary finally returned and we found out that the people that we needed were out of town. We sat and waited for another couple of hours for the hospital driver to pick us up. And so the process goes on…..
I realize that government processes can often take a long time no matter where you are but Malawian time is by no means only reflected in this. The culture here is the extreme opposite to the busy society in which we live and it definitely does not allow for the same instant gratification (I was reminded of this after a long day at work I when I really wanted to just call for a takeaway). In Malawi, a lot of time is spent waiting. Nothing is particularly urgent. Things move differently. Africans are not bound to time like we are. To survive in such a place as Africa, you need to develop patience. Patience is “The capacity to accept or tolerate delay,
trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset”. Well Patience is not only a virtue in Malawi, it’s a necessity.
I’m sure I could write a novel about Malawian time (the benefits and the drawbacks) but I will have to save that for another time. One thing I can say though is that I am used to it. Yes it’s frustrating that some things take a lot longer than they do in the Western world - not just hours longer but days and weeks longer - but you just have to accept that things will happen evenually. Once you've done that then Malawian time leads to a much less stressful, more relaxed pace of life.
I just wish Matola drivers stuck to this concept of time. After surviving a head on goat-killing incident and a speedy ride in the back of a pick-up truck in the pouring rain (during which my friend Eileen was almost suffocated by a Rwandan refugee) my current housemates and I were able to embrace Malawian time and spend a nice relaxing weekend at the lake.
Ndidzabweranso (I’ll be back)
Joanna.
P.S. I will post photos of the vehicle once it
is safely outside St Gabriel's hospital!
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