Things!

It's been an exciting week here in Farendé! Ive had a bunch of time to be in this fascinating community and try to learn a bit about the challenges and opportunities for development here. Ill get into my observations on that next week, but for now I'd like to discuss some of the, let's call them "adjustments," that I've had to make.

Electricty, specifically the lack thereof.

To be honest, it's not too bad. Thinking about 2 months without iPhone was almost enough to make me not get on that plane to Togo, but despite the definite adjustments it hasn't been too bad. For one, your schedule changes... to one that makes you live the way the earth wants us to. In bed by 8:30, ie a few hours after the sun sets, reading with my headlamp. Up around 6 if the sund doesnt wake me sooner. Ive really enjoyed early morning runs when it feels pretty nice actually. The time between 10-3 isnt terribly conducive to athletics, although there is this natural sauna everywhere. Its definitely a pain using a flashlight for everything you do once the sun goes down (think 2am stumbling to find a tree that looks like it would make a good toilet).

The second thing about the lack of electricity, and something Ive actually really enjoyed, is the fewer distractions that are around me. It's been so much easier to get immersed in a book when you dont have DVR, the internet and all those electronic temptations at your fingertips. Beyond that, Ive had the feeling that the lack of all these technologies that let us be elsewhere has allowed me to do a better job of living in the moment and place and time that Im in. For instance, I just finished reading Moby Dick for the first time, and how incredible it was immersing myself in that tale, especially as I read by a kerosine lantern as the storms brewed overhead, as I can only image this book was designed to be read.

Some nights have been better than others without AC or a fan in my room, but how hard it is to really escape the heat has been rough. There are several methods used here that work to variying degrees: tree shade (not bad); these straw-covered open-air huts called paillotes (pretty good); a shower (soothing, but temporary). There are times, particularly when Im trying to sleep, bullets of sweat running down my body, that I would kill for AC or even a cold beer (the local beer, made for sorghum is pretty good - for taste, think a dry alcoholic cider type taste, is served tepid and no fridge means no ice cold Coca-Cola(TM)) but I think of what this place must be like in the dry season and that these people deal with it their whole lives and I generally stop complaining.

Chaotic Improvisation

My previous summers featured the pretty standard unpaid internship elements: 8:30 to 5:30 office hours, button down shirt (open collar though!), a small desk with stacks of papers and ball-point pens, and lunch breaks at the local café. Not so this summer. This sort of organization was not what I signed up for, and its certainly not what Im getting! The roads are such a fantastic example: cars darting back and forth in between broken down trucks, fearless motorcyclist (there are TONS here), over-loaded bikers and woman with more than I can imagine carrying effortlessly balanced on their heads. With all this, the roads mostly have no lines, are full of pot-holes or just uneven dirt, don't exactly have gutters to help with drainange and stop-lights are interpreted as friendly suggestions, rather than any sort of legal impediment.

Chaos in the way things are done at all different levels as well! Visas? Go through a hole in a wall (literally a hole in the wall) to find an unmarked office. Time? Ha! Meetings that start 2 hours late do not jive with me! Do people show up? Sometimes!

Again, adustment needed. There clearly are benefits of this timeless-ness. I havent seen anybody powerwalking down the streets of Farende with their head down, too busy to say hello and ask how I am doing because they are late for a meeting. They take the time to welcome you and invite you for a drink almost always.Where in the US we'd say (as I have many times before!) that I'd love to catch up with you or do X, Y or Z, but Im too "busy" or Im "late" for a meeting or I dont have the "time" today. In a chaotic, improvised culture, you allow yourself to be immersed in what you have around you, instead of running off to what might be. Ive actually come to realize that part of the problem is that I try to come on time, not thinking about the paradox that if two people are both 2 hours late for a meeting, they are actually both on time.

However, for getting stuff done, for having meetings to learn about development here, this is a pain. For the future of business and government here, this will be a problem. However, maybe it is possible for development to bring timeliness to these sectors, but leave us the time to make time for those around us. Being late always makes me think about my much beloved who is unfortunately not with us any more, Eve Carson. She gave you a 120 percent of her soul when she was with you, but she was always horribly late. Thinking about the concept of being late doesnt usually make me smile; but it does in this case.

But yes! Adjustments! Adjustments that are temporary, but ones that are helping me digest the way I live my life no matter where I am. This is why I love travel!

Until next time,
Alex