Marathon Meetings

Attend a meeting in Uganda and after its completion you will feel as if you just completed one of your most enduring adventures, such as a marathon.  Unlike America, where meetings tend to get in and get out and have a start and end time, the ones in Uganda are open for anything.

At my previous site I never attended a meeting.  Fellow Volunteers would constantly tell me how lucky I am but I felt like I was missing out on an experience. 

Boy was I right.

Since moving, I have attended four meetings.  Four very long meetings. 

I acknowledge the cultural difference between America and Uganda and those that contribute to the difference in how meetings are ran.  Let me tell ya though, I am fearing that I am not going to make it through the approximately 74 meetings I have left here.

First off, meetings typically start on African time.  In America there is the saying, “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is never acceptable.”  Hence people show up fifteen minutes early to work, meetings, and events.  You wouldn’t want to be the person who strolls into your work meeting late with a coffee in one hand, rummaging through their bag for a pen and paper.

Well here this is a-okay.

For example todays meeting was to start at 2:00p.  I ended my lunch early to return to the office at 1:50p and I should have known better.  The meeting started at 3:30p.  Refer to Time Is (Not) of The Essence for more on that.  The ironic part of the meeting was that the director talked about being prompt.  I will be astounded the day when anything starts on time.

Every meeting has to be accompanied by an agenda, typically with time allotted for each point.  Now as you have come to probably realize, the times are never followed.  An agenda somehow resembles the following:

1.  Prayer

2.  Roll call

3.  Approval of agenda

4.  Reading of previous week’s minutes

5.  Questions or concerns of previous week’s minutes

6.  Communication from director

7.  Communication from accountant

8.  Communication from secretary

9.  Communication from PCV

10.  Reactions and remarks

11.  Closing prayer

No matter the number of people present, agendas like this are the standard. 

Oh and this doesn’t take into account the time breaks you have to take for snacks and tea, short call, and accommodate the needs of the patients.

And always take the snack because you never know when your next meal will be.

In the office the meetings are spoken in English.  Thank the Lord.  For the sensitizations conducted in the villages, of which I have attended many, they are conducted in Runyankore then translated for me in English.  Many of the village people do not understand English well so they want to accommodate everyone in attendance.  I can pick up the local words here and there but not enough to know exactly what is going on.  Despite my best efforts to look attentive, I tend to lose concentration and instead daydream about America and what to cook for dinner.

Moving on to mobile phones.  Remember in 10^th grade history class when your cell would accidently ring?  Fellow students would snicker and laugh while Mrs. D would shoot you the most disapproving look.  Well here you can hear the vibrations of people’s mobile while the tune of “I’m A Barbie Girl” plays, indicating an incoming call.  Now you may think that this person would just let the call go but instead they pick it up to have a full-fledged conversation or they pretend no one heard it and quietly answer it.  One of the reasons this is widely accepted in Uganda is that you pay for the airtime it takes to call someone but not to receive a call.

Given these differences, there are plenty of times during the meeting where I just want to shake my head.  Instead I have started to identify ways to maintain my mind. 

Examples include writing to do lists, doodling, playing tic-tac-toe by myself to learn new tricks, and planning my next health education talk or life skills lesson.

Note: I only partake in the above when the topic does not pertain to my position.

I am looking forward to the day where I can attend meetings in America but I’ll confess… I may show up hours late, answer a call, daydream about the good ole days of Uganda, and request tea.