The Rolling Stone's song "Time Is on My Side" could be a continuous theme for many first time visitors now living in Malawi. Getting here with the Peace Corps was such a long ordeal and there is no reasonable way to prepare for the journey.
The obvious challenges of distance, a different culture, climate and language are usually identified at the top of the list. Perhaps it's all those items in the fine print or less visible that are so easy to miss. Even living in the village setting during training phase failed to hammer home the adjustment that would be required in two areas.
The overlooked items are transportation and time. Malawi transportation is a worst case nightmare. Every person in this country can add a travel woe to any story. Even bring up the subject can cause a seismic response.
Time is the other issue sure to elicit a reaction of some sort from most. Wasn't it Albert Einstein who suggested that time is relative to how fast we are traveling? My question is simply "relative to what"? In Malawi using the word clock and time together constitutes an oxymoron.
Perhaps there is nowhere else in the world where time takes on the meaning it has here. A better way to state the obvious is simply that time does not exist here in the way that is familiar to many of us.
There is an expression that I've heard called "Malawi time". It is simply code to add anything from 10 minutes to five hours for a designated time. When someone says "I will meet you at 3 o'clock" it can really mean 3:10 or 8:00. And the more requests for accuracy seem to generate more creative responses.
My classic story is the after dark mini-bus flat tire on the M1 mountain road between two cities. When looking for a time when the repair would take place the answer was given "when someone comes to fix it". And that would happen when the mechanic arrives. That could be ten minutes, two hours or maybe a day.
Perhaps this week seemed to test the limits of knowledge about time here. Understanding time in Malawi is learned skill that opens a host of experiences. With the right attitude everything gets put into perspective.
It becomes a balance of when something actually happens and living in the moment. So many of us we are living in the next moment or moments because we are too busy getting to or going somewhere. Tomorrow becomes more important than today's moments.
This week's project required more travel and in Malawi when you arrive can be a challenge. An hour's ride is never a sure thing. My journey was to begin with a Monday morning meeting (Columbus Day here is not on the Malawi holiday calendar). One of the two participants didn't show for the early meeting and it had to be rescheduled for two o'clock the same day a total of 5 hours later.
It made no sense to travel an hour and half back to my home location. I walked over to the local prison to greet the superintendent who is a friend. There is much to be said for visiting anyone especially when there isn't a reason. Should I ever be involved with any prison projects in my own area the superintendent's advice will be greatly appreciated. There was no place else I needed to be and the rescheduled meeting was set for 2 o'clock.
A quick text to two fellow Peace Corps workers resulted in an unscheduled plan for an early lunch at a local restaurant. The restaurant sits at the foot of the nearby mountain range in a garden like atmosphere where time seems to stand still. Being so early meant we were the only customers.
A first order of coffee was followed by some quick menu selections. We jokingly remarked that the atmosphere is in stark contrast to other Malawi locations. After an hour of waiting it became apparent that the kitchen was in no rush to serve us. Maybe in another location or another setting we would have marched into the kitchen demanding speedier service. We were content to just and review reasons why each of us had traveled with the Peace Corps to Malawi.
Discussed were our candid observations about life in Malawi. The conversation drifted into what we liked about Malawi and the most challenges. We even speculated about our lives after the Peace Corps. Surprisingly not one of us made a move to the kitchen with a demand of faster service.
When the food finally came more than two hours later we quickly ate and were on our way. Somehow we had slipped into the moment and simply enjoyed the rare opportunity to listen to each other and find our differences and our common connections. There were still no other customers. There was no other place we had to be at the moment.
As it worked out the 2:00 meeting did not happen because the missing member never showed and the meeting got rescheduled for the next morning.
On Wednesday my plan was to accompany my board chairperson to his two day teaching assignment at a college an hour and a half north of the capital. It meant leaving Ntcheu at 6:00 to be in Dedza by 8:00 for the start of our ride north.
I got a ride north from a Zomba Pakistan butcher who has lived in Malawi for the past seventeen years. Time stood still as we talked about our experiences and differences and our favorable views of Malawi. We were in no rush to have the ride over and we enjoyed the moment. I had arrived ahead of schedule for our trip north with my board person.
The 8:00 AM start off time became 9:00 but only to begin a limited search for scarce diesel fuel. We headed south to meet up with his colleague in a neighboring market place. The suggested 10 minute stop over became an hour of sitting and waiting while he conversed in his colleague's car. And simply where did I need to be or need to go? Nowhere. My rush to head north was mine alone.
The ride was further delayed by a stopover with some local villagers who needed some advice on securing funds to put a roof on a church. For these villagers this was a critical issue and there was no other place I needed to be but there just listening to their immediate requests.
Maybe this was my once in a life time to see these villagers and never again. We eventually arrived at our destination perhaps later than expected but time was not the critical factor since living in the moment was more important.
Maybe there was some unknown futuristic vision taking place when in the late 1960's I stopped wearing a watch. All those years were preparing me for now when the only important time is the moment at hand.
For most of us the business of the next event drives us forward and keeps us so distracted that slowing down and living in the present is really difficult. What do I need to be doing right now?
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