Basotho Time

The other day Me’ Mphone stopped by my house to ask for help. She’s a teacher at the primary school and one of my friends in the village. She had a question about her keyhole garden that she was constructing and wanted “2 minutes” for me to come and look at it. I told her I would stop by later (because I was cooking), but she talked me into following her to help with her garden. I turned off my stove burner, slipped on some shoes and headed out of my family compound, fully knowing that “2minutes” was going to be at least 1 hour.

Here in Africa things operate on "Africa Time" or "Basotho Time". This essentially translates to things will happen whenever everyone is ready with little or no stress or pressure which usually happens hours or much later that you expect or are told. This isn’t always a bad thing, but its much different than the punctuality I’ve experienced, stressed about and sweated over in America. In my village in Lesotho if I’m invited to a meeting that is scheduled for 10am it will likely start at about 12pm. Same with shops opening and school starting. Its time to open and start school and businesses when everybody is ready.

The day that Me’ Mphone stopped by I finally made it to look at her garden almost 2 hours after I left my compound. I can walk from one end of my village to the other in about 10minutes, but on the way to her house we had to stop and visit with many people. My Sesotho isn’t that great, but I still communicated ok with some of her family, friends and people in the village. My stomach growled as I walked through the village and sat visiting in dark huts thinking about my tuna pasta getting cold in my own hut. I couldn't help but laugh to myself about the "2 minutes".

By the way, her garden was beautiful and she didn't really have any questions, I think she just wanted me to visit her and her family.