Keeping Time in Africa-The African Concept of Time

Keeping Time in Africa – Learning the African Concept of Time

The Concept of Time in Africa, in Uganda, is not about Punctuality but about Relationships.

Keeping Time in Africa – Learning the African Concept of Time: Here, you will find some insightful observations regarding the African culture and the perception of Time within it. Punctuality and deadlines may not be regarded with the same level of importance as in other world regions. Consequently, this may lead to unexpected delays or changes, requiring flexibility and patience.

African visitors need to understand that Time is relational and not on task. Germans and Swiss will be frustrated since Punctuality is everything in such countries. Americans to whom Time is money will have their patience tested visiting an African nation like Uganda.  

Incorporating extra Time into your schedule can be advantageous in case of unforeseen changes or delays. This will enable you to remain flexible and adaptable in a culture where things may not always go according to plan.

Below you will find more insights that will prove beneficial to you. Understanding and respecting cultural differences is imperative in building solid and successful relationships. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any queries or need further assistance.

Keeping Time in Africa-The African Concept of Time

 Come to the door of a house in Uganda, and you will most likely hear, “You are most welcome.” Africans are some of the most hospitable people you will ever meet. They will take you into their homes and make you feel like one of the family. You will be given something to eat or drink, even if it is the last thing. They will put aside all the essential items and focus on you. 

The focus is on the relationship rather than Punctuality. Relationships are more important than being on Time.

The tasks at hand become secondary since the relationships work out to become part of the task solution in Africa.

They were keeping Time in Africa – Learning the African Concept of Time. The reality is this. Most Africans do not save Time, and they keep relationships. What is more important? Saving Time or maintaining relationships. In Africa, the association is seen as more important than keeping Time.

Keeping Time in Africa – The Concept of African Time Compared to the West:

Most Westerners who come to Africa find such attitudes one of their most considerable frustrations. They came to do something (tasks) … a few months or even years later, they leave frustrated…never completing what they came to do. They never learned how things happen in Africa. Here everything is relationally connected, and life does not go by a strict timeline.

Western Culture does not prepare us to explore other worlds or other cultures. We make judgments that keep us from entering the world we are visiting. We only touch the surface, like a person going swimming, entering the wading pool, but never the swimming pool. President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush visited Uganda dipping their toes into Africa but never an immersion into the local culture. That is not the way to visit Africa, 

I have met countless Westerners who spent months and years in Africa but never allowed Africa (Africans) to meet them. They tip-toe through the continent and barely scratch the surface.

Many come to Africa with lofty ideals, wanting to help and change Africa, only burning out and becoming angry with Africans and Africa. One of the offensive slogans of such a person is “Africa wins again.” Sadly, such a person leaves Africa clueless about what makes Africa tick and how to get things done. 

Many never learn the heart of Africa and its people, and everything gets done relationally. Africa is, first and foremost, relational in its approach to life. Tasks are subjugated to the relational aspect of the experience, and they are completed to help the family, the clan, the village, and the tribe.

Walk around Africa, and you will see people sitting, chatting, and waiting. You come by a few hours later, and they have not moved. Are they not bored? No, the African enjoys and savors the Time before him. There is no anxiety about doing this or that to meet this deadline or that one.

If you make an appointment to meet, enjoy the wait. Take in the surroundings and observe people. You can always read a newspaper or a book on your smartphone. 

Africans are usually late not because they are rude but because they are tied up with other people, and leaving them would not have been polite. In America, Time is money. In Germany, Punctuality is everything except the trains are no longer on time there. In countries like Tanzania, trains can run a day late. Africans take such things into stride and adjust. They settle in for the day and night, making the best of an annoying situation.

Life tends to be shorter in Africa, and HIV-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 it is 57 years or less in many parts of Africa.

The COVID pandemic has only added deaths, though Uganda has not felt the rage of the pandemic that other parts of the world have.

When your life is short, and you know that most 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.

One of the first things a Westerner realizes in Africa is that life is hard for the average African. There is more of a struggle in everyday life to get by, and having enough food is part of that struggle. 

Yes, life is a struggle in Africa, and because of that daily struggle, there is also that celebrant spirit. Africans love to celebrate almost anything. 

They enjoy each other, celebrate their relationships, and include each other as they celebrate life and, at times, death.

The Clock reminds us of the shortness of life. Probably one of the reasons that Africans will often ignore the Clock hence -shortness, probably one of the reasons that Africans will often overlook the Clock. They realize that enduring things in life have to do with family, friends, relationships, and not a day ruled by the Clock, and when someone says they are on the way, they might never come.

Africans realize that the enduring things in life have to do with family, friends, and relationships and not a day ruled by the Clock. When someone says they are on the way, they might never come.

“There is a saying in Africa, and here is a variant. “You know that you are African, and when the Party starts at 8 PM, you show up at Midnight.”

This African Concept of Time might be why Kampala is the African City that never sleeps. The party goes on until dawn and beyond. The next day some are late to work. The traffic Jams are a common excuse understood by all in Kampala. If you do not have patience and are Time and tasks driven, you cannot survive in Kampala.

Keeping Time in Africa – What Happens to Timeliness on a Safari?

On a safari, you will find that the African Concept of Time is not applied. As most Tour-Operators, we go by the itinerary, and the itinerary has a schedule for each day, and only at the client’s behest can that be changed.

Safaris aside, most of us return to the African Concept of Time until the next Safari. As an American who grew up in punctual Germany, I lived much of my Time in the USA, where Time is money. Even I have adjusted to the African Concept of Time based on relationships.