Patience, the driver says, patience, you will see. I hear this word over and over those months, those years, in Ghana, so much I begin to think “Patience” is the national motto of Ghana. I’m sitting next to the driver in a tro tro or in the front seat of a bus, going from one town to another, from the forest to the savannah, going anywhere, and I ask, how long before we get to Bolgatanga or to Bawku or to Wa or to where ever we are headed and the answer is always the same: Patience. Patience, patience. At some point I realize it doesn’t matter when we get there, it doesn’t matter how long it will take. It will just happen when it happens. It doesn’t matter what town is next for I will find out when we get there. A trip that is supposed to take ten hours takes 20 hours, a trip that is supposed to take four hours takes 12 hours, the bus breaks down, we all get out, the men gather around the engine or the tire or whatever seems to be the problem, the women find a bush to pee behind, peeing standing up as women in Ghana do, something I find amazing and liberating. We wait. We will be patient.
Apparently we ain't in New York no more, Toto. What's this patience thing anyway? We gotta get to the next town, muy pronto, so STEP ON IT! driver, and stop dilly-dallying dammit! What, we're in Ghana, were time almost stands still? What, we'll get there when we get there? And what's going on over there? Women peeing standing up? I thought only men did that? Did somebody put something in my coffee this morning? Is this all a dream? I know it can't be real.
ReplyDeleteGary and I are too much NY!! This calls for saintly patience, a hard learned lesson but much needed. And yes sometimes the stand up pee is the only way!!
DeleteA whole new, very grounded, learned-from-experience take on patience. I loved the immediacy of this piece.
ReplyDelete