Village Life

My two years of service has been defined by village life. Enguwantale may not be the idyllic African village where we all stood around the community fire drumming and dancing every night, but it most certainly has that unique pace one would expect to find in a village.  As with any other part of the world, time is represented by a series of numbers, however, here those numbers hold little weight.  In fact, time is better represented by roughly pointing to the position of the sun in the sky.  This is universally known as “African Time”.  As an American, African Time is no doubt frustrating. How many hours of my life were wasted just idly waiting?  Probably enough hours to be considered a part-time waiter (and I don’t mean the restaurant type).  However, I have since learned that “wasted” is not the correct term.  It is only wasted when I was frustrated.  Once I learned the magic of African Time my perspective of the village changed.  It’s absolutely worth slowing down.  At first glance the village may seem mundane, but in reality it is very alive and there is an extraordinary rhythm that is a joy to be in step with.