Tanzania: On Time

In Tanzania, I didn’t wear a watch. I barely knew what time anything happened. There was sunrise, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sunset. We planned to start VBS at 9am each morning (I didn’t know what time it was until Wednesday). Monday morning our breakfast arrived late; the ladies cooking the chapatis were running behind schedule. We asked Alex Higgs, the trip leader, what we should do. He said, “We eat breakfast when it gets here, and then go to the school when we’re done.” Rather than being bound to the Almighty Schedule, we just did things as they came along. “What time is it” was an irrelevant question.

African culture places relationships above time, while European culture tends to prioritize time over relationships. In Germany, everything runs by the clock. Trains are always on time, as are planes, meetings, and appointments. In Tanzania, people are “on time” if they arrive when they’re ready.

This could be both a good thing and a frustrating thing. For me, it was freeing. Rather than stressing about deadlines, it allowed me to just live fully in every moment. I could play clapping games and sing with the kids and not be worried about being on time for a meeting. The only time the loose time schedule would be frustrating is when a schedule is imposed upon a schedule-free culture (see my post on our travel delays).

I compare my time in Tanzania with my packed-full, parceled out weekly schedule at BFA. My life is so sectionalized and divided, I find it hard to invest fully in each event or person. My stress level is much higher when I’m confined to a schedule. Am I more productive? In some cases, probably. But do my relationships suffer? Probably.

I’m not sure how to reconcile a relaxed attitude toward my to-do list with the necessary deadlines that do exist. The trip to Tanzania is causing me to prayerfully consider my priorities as I follow my set schedule.