this is africa

i wish i could capture all the images i pass by each day.

the tea kettle boiling outside the front door.  the fancy furniture on the side of the road, just made and upholstered, sitting in the dirt while a rooster walks by.  the guy on the single gear bike, riding up a hill with a wooden twin bed frame standing tall tied on behind his seat.  or the man riding on the back of the boda-boda with two goats on his lap.  or the traffic oozing from one lane into four lanes as if to push the congestion through.  the tiny, red, one chair beauty parlor with the name 'super salon'.

there is a saying around here "TIA".  i'm so used to the medical meaning 'transient ischemic attack' but used here, it means 'this is africa'.  it's something we say when we see the guy on the boda holding a giant pane of glass in between himself and the driver, or the meeting is cancelled with out notice, or the teacher shows up 45 minutes late to class.  TIA.  or the power goes out after just coming back after 36 hours with none.  or when the truck that looses it's wheel, stays blocking the only lane of traffic in that direction for 24 hours, on the only road between kenya and congo.  TIA.

or there is no propane ANYWHERE and when you ask when it will come the answer is 'it should be this week, or next'. TIA. or the waiter waits until after you've attempted to order three different dinner options, to inform you that they don't just happen to be out of your first first three choices, they actually only have chicken curry tonight.  TIA.

it does help somehow, remembering to lower the expectations and to put it in perspective.  to Be in it, to find the humor in it, because it's just not worth getting irritated over these things that we have no ability to control.  TIA. 

there is also great benefit in the TIA experience.  for one, it forces you to be in the moment more.  it demands flexibility and it teaches patience.  and these TIA moments make you realize how good we have it most of the time.  it makes you so very thankful for things that are very easy to take for granted. an evening with gas to cook with and lights to see your food and the internet working makes for a fantastic night.  and these TIA moments often brings sympathy from friends who don't live in africa- it legitimates the image of 'roughing it'.

but perhaps most of all these things unpeel the reality that most of the world lives with.  poor infrastructure leads to wheel-less trucks abandoned and blocking traffic.  a lack of options results in people carrying too large or too dangerous items on motorcycles or bicycles.  power outages, propane shortages, expensive sugar and cooking oil are life for many people.  as is hunger.  as is poverty.  so after a few months of learning to role with it and let it go,  i am often able to appreciate how lucky i am to see this world, to experience something so different, and to be reminded of how spoiled i am.

and most of the days as i drive to kampala past people brushing their teeth outside the front door, or dressing their babies in the light of the morning, or see the tree full of flowers grown up in front of a little tin roofed house- i think, This is Africa.