In the west we are fascinated – perhaps even obsessed - by time. That’s perhaps why there are so many famous clocks. But not everyone sees time in the same way.
African Insights Ezine – September 2004
Keeping Time in Africa
I grew up in Germany where time ruled life. The bells of the nearby church tolled on time every 15 minutes during the daytime hours. You were never late, no matter what you had to do. Punctuality was part of being German. Here in America "time is money". You simply move and dance to the tune of the clock. At work we clock in and out and the clock rules the day.
In Africa, it is not the clock that rules the day...but the relationship. It is being a human being instead of a human doing. Life is short in Africa. AIDS has taken another ten years or more off the average life span of Africans. Life expectancy is often half of that in the West where it approaches 80 or more, whereas in Africa it is 40 and falling.
When your life is short and you know that most of the people around you are dying young, your approach to life becomes different, you value relationships more than tasks, for it is the relationship that will nurture you when you hit rough waves in your life’s journey.
Yes, when life is short, the clock reminds one of that shortness, probably one of the reasons that Africans will often ignore the clock. They realize that enduring things in life have to do with family, friends, relationships and not a day ruled by the clock.