Never Fail to Learn

As many times as I have been to Africa, I sometimes think I sound like an idiot when people ask me “what’s it like?”  For just as I sound like some kind of authority, I turn around and show forth my ignorance on the very subject I’ve just acted like I knew something about.. One example was how I discovered the people of Liberia to be so different  from those who were my friends in countries like Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Another example is when Sarah asked me how to pack.  I totally missed how cool and rainy it would be in all three countries we visited, even when we went to the game park.

But where my ignorance showed up the greatest was when we had banking experiences.  I think these also took Barry by surprise.  He’s been “my main man” for a LONG time, not just relying on banking decisions regarding trips to Africa.  But on this trip, Sarah and I went to him often to plan our strategy.

BECAUSE of BANKING, we could buy cute gifts like this.  Well,
maybe you can't tell it's cute, but take my word for it when Grands saw this wire framed
car, they instantly envisioned a good ride
for their Calico Critters.

We decided that taking lots of cash on our person wasn’t too wise.  I had known that Visa was by far the more preferred credit card in most countries I’d visited, but I assumed that when we were in Kenya, that we could use our EAFC Mastercard.  Well, that wasn’t a very good assumption.  All the ATM’s accepted Visa but not Mastercard.  

Banks wanted us to have an account with them to do business with us.  And yet when Sarah and Jean Paul went to a bank in Kigali to get U.S. cash, they had no problems at all. The bank checks we took to give funds to students and those who had worked with us didn’t prove to be the right decision either.  I think December 5 is the first day that “their checks” will clear, even though the money has left our account.

One banking experience showed us we not only needed lots of TIME, knowledge of the area in which we were working, but we HAD TO HAVE Joseph with us who provided the bank with a local phone number in order for them to allow each of us to take $500 only out of our credit cards.

I guess I could tell the whole story, but maybe the details aren’t too important.  How interesting can it be to explain standing in line at THREE different banks before we found one who would help us?  Does anyone care to hear about the forms we had to fill out, the sitting and waiting, then being told to fill out more forms before getting our money?

In Uganda we saw children out at 10 PM at night.  We saw people who left their homes at 6 AM to be at work by 8, only to leave work at 5 to get home some time after 7.  They did this day after day.  People work long hours!  They sit in traffic ALOT.  They work 6 days a week, and I seldom heard anyone complain.

And here I was complaining about two hours in a line in a bank.

Get the idea?  I still have lots to learn!