Flexible Time

Something that i have noticed from spending a few months at post is that time here is ‘flexible.’ What exactly does that mean…I think it means that no one here lives by a clock. There is a structure to how things work, but it certainly does not depend on the exact time; I would argue that it has more to do with where the sun is (and of course that is closely related to the time). Most of the daily life activities in village revolve around cultivating and working in the fields. Other than that the electricity is far from dependable (that is if the people have it at all) and so making the most of sunlight hours is important.

Surprisingly people wake up very early around 5am before the sun is up to get started on their days, especially on farm days. Here there are basically two different types of weeks occurring simultaneously. There is the Monday through Sunday week, but then there is also an 8 day week that directs most activities. For example every 4 days is a market day and with the big market days happening every 8 days and 4 days later is the small market day. Market days are just as much social events; if not more, than they are about getting food and things for the house. It is a day when everyone comes together in the market place to talk and see one another. The day after a market day is always a farm day. People leave very early to go to their farms and return very late. I am sure that the other days have their designations as well, but for now I am not sure exactly what they are.

I think that in the United States, my life was controlled so much by the time. I never really saw it as controlling me while I was there; I thought it was great to have a lot of structure. But now that I am in such a contrasting situation I see it a bit differently. Instead of things being controlled by time, activities are controlled by other activities. I meet with two women’s groups on Sundays and the one group meets “after church.” Some days that is 9 in the morning, but other days it is 10 or 11 or even noon. It all depends on what time the pastor comes and how into the service everyone is. I would say that almost all of the meetings that I have run on flexible time. They are scheduled to start at 9 or 11, but people start arriving over the next few hours. Thus it takes a while to actually get started. Then once things finally do, the meetings tend to drag on for 3 – 5 hours. I find this very unnecessary and at times annoying. But what I have come to understand is that these meetings are once again a social setting. Everyone enjoys getting to take basically a whole day to see other people and accomplish things at a slow pace.

Priorities are different. It is not about maximizing the efficiency of time used. It is maybe more about slow and steady. People work very hard on their farms and when they have time to be social they relish it. Greetings here can take several minutes, especially in the North I have heard. It is important to say hi to your neighbors and give yourself a break to stay involved in the community. Community membership and relations, I would argue are more important here.