Learning Patience

patience
noun
1 the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry

Being back in the bush of Africa, once again, I am reminded of how a simple task can, and usually does, take ten times longer than you expect it to. Coming from a society that is built on the expectation of quick responses and fast production, one must leave the normality of productiveness in the western hemisphere if one wishes to keep his sanity.

To give you an idea, here is a typical day here on the farm:

After our morning devotions with the ASAM Staff jobs are given out to every worker. On this particular morning, food needs to be delivered to two different locations; one being the ASAM school, which feeds 250+ students each day, and 7 students in a higher grade at a different school. Nat and I volunteered our time to do the job. Our first plan was to take Rick and Heather’s truck but then George, who is in charge of food distribution, informed us that the Isuzu would not carry the amount of food we had to deliver. This left us with the big flatbed truck but it was not as simple as loading it up and being on our way. There was heaps of sand in the back that needed to be unloaded; I’m not talking bags of sand that can be easily removed but rather piles of sand that must be shoveled off the truck by hand. A few hours latter, the sand is  unloaded, the food is loaded and we are ready to be on our way. Since it had rain over that last few nights there were puddles of water to be avoided along the softened road leading from the farm to the highway. Suddenly, without warning, the ground gave way and we slid into the muddy ditch.

Nat and Matthew walked back to the farm to get the Isuzu and some rope.

When they returned some men began shoveling mud out from around the tires and some tree branches were cut down for traction under the tires. Planks of wood would have been nice at this point…… or better yet… a tow truck company!

It was a dirty job but someone has to do it! We sometimes give the locals a hard time about their work ethic, or rather lack there of, but these Africans often do jobs us clean-blue-collar-Americans would never do.

With the pull of the Isuzu and the push of six men we desperately tried to free the flatbeds wheels from the unforgiving mug below. Everyone pushed and pulled to no avail and we were left to think of another plan. By this time it was almost lunch time so I went with the truck back to the farm. Considering I was no use to the problem at hand, I thought I might make myself useful and cook some food for those who were actually getting some work done. By one ‘o clock the men were back on the farm and the truck was finally unstuck! It was released from the earths grip by the power of 20 men slowly, and with great effort, lifting the back end of the truck inch by inch until it was on solid ground. I would have loved to have had a photo of that but I guess it's understandable that none of the men helping were considering what a great photo shot this would make.

After lunch we took one small load of food in the Isuzu and delivered it to the school. The rest of the food was left to deliver the next day.

So, there you have it! A days work and only half the work actually completed.

We could complain about the rain and blame it for stifling our efforts to be “productive” but that would be to curse the very thing the locals need. Unlike us, who have irrigation systems and electricity to pump water to our crops, this nation is reliant on rains from the sky to grow their crops. This year has been a tough one due to an unusually dry rainy season. At this point the mission is able to provide food for 50 people through their “Work for Food” program. This program allows the mission to hire 5o extra workers a day who all work for the payment of food only. Women work a half days work and men work a few hours short of a full day’s work. This system provides food for the hungry without creating dependence on a free hand out to a person who is capable of working.

Each morning close to 200 men and women show up hoping for some work.

The tough job is only being able to choose 50.