Firstly, Happy New Year to all of you and hope that is was a great time. I, myself, had a wonderful time and then it was right back to classes. During one of my seminars today, the discussion took an interesting turn on the accuracy of the statement "Africans are lazy". This then got me to thinking about stereotypes around the world and how inaccurate they actually are. This then reminded me of an hilarious article I read before I left, sent to me by Gwen Schaefer, How to Write about Africa. I recommend anyone who would like a nice laugh about outrageous inferences to read this.
Anyways, back to whether Africans are lazy or not, I would conclude that most people would choose to be lazy if given the chance but certain circumstances in life take away that choice. I realize this does not conclude about Africans in general, so I will tell what I have witnessed and experienced living here for a little over 3 months now in attempt to derive some sort of conclusion.
Within these 3 months I've realized there are certain aspects of life that are simpler and more easy-going than home. For example, people seem to be less materialistic or focused on possessions, and people seem to take their time doing tasks instead of being at a constant non-stop pace. Both of these things I appreciate greatly, however do either of these necessarily make someone "lazy".
At the same time, while some things are simpler, some of the most mundane tasks seem to require much more effort. For example, the daily task of cooking and the weekly chore of washing clothes. Both of these things I can do easily at home, however; I have failed to do them easily here. It's actually a little frustrating and creates a feeling of incompetence on my part. Firstly, when it comes to cooking I have never used a charcoal stove before, had to squat while cooking and be able to grab a very hot pot with your hands because there are no handles in order to stir. Secondly, to wash clothing is to do so by hand. I had no idea that this is actually a lot harder than it looks, nor do I do it well enough to actually get any dirt out. Both of these tasks are very normal and ones that I've been doing on my own for years and suddenly can't seem to grasp, and trust me you cannot be lazy while doing either.
Also some do not have the easiest access to water, by that I mean it's usually outside and one needs to fetch it with a bucket. So even if it's right outside you house if you need to take a shower, flush a toilet, get water for cooking you are always going to fetch water and then carry heavy buckets back with you. This also takes more effort than I really want to exert.
On the other hand, wait staff don't seem to be the most energtic or helpful people and it usually takes more time than average (according to American standards) to get service of any kind.
From what I've seen from living here, Tanzanians are not any more or less lazy than Americans that I know of, in fact just the increased toughness of their tasks is something to be admired. Doing tasks in these ways gives me a new found respect for new ways to do things and if my washer and dryer ever break at home then I can still have clean clothes.
Hakuna Matata,
Kimberly
