This is when the kids are over at our house using the computers, mostly just playing games. We di...
Credit: Nyiko | ©Nyiko
Time is an integral part of our lives as Americans and we've even got atomic clocks to measure its passing with incredible accuracy. But not everyone sees time the way we do. The vaTsonga people of rural South Africa have a particularly different view of time.
We've been in South Africa now for just over a year. It's crazy how time flies! I can still vividly recall our goodbyes at home, our initial training, our various expectations for what South Africa would be like, all our ideas of what we might do here. Our perspective has definitely changed in most of those regards, but it's hard to believe we've really been working here for more than a year already.
It's funny because there's not a lot that we can say we've "accomplished" already - that's one of the things that makes the one year mark seem unbelievable. But in some ways you may say time flows differently here. What may take 10 minutes in the US may take 1 hour here. Or what may normally be accomplished in a week there may take several months here. And what may take a year in America, well, that may not even happen within someone's lifetime in South Africa. But whether or not time really flows differently here, I can tell you that certainly it's perceived differently.
More loosely, you might say. Everyone here is very well aware of time, they have words in their language for referring to it and they understand you when you talk about it. But maybe they don't understand you quite the same, at least not the way us Americans talk about time: the vaTsonga people here just don't put as much weight into it. I guess to them, time means something, just not everything.
We've been in South Africa now for just over a year. It's crazy how time flies! I can still vividly recall our goodbyes at home, our initial training, our various expectations for what South Africa would be like, all our ideas of what we might do here. Our perspective has definitely changed in most of those regards, but it's hard to believe we've really been working here for more than a year already.
It's funny because there's not a lot that we can say we've "accomplished" already - that's one of the things that makes the one year mark seem unbelievable. But in some ways you may say time flows differently here. What may take 10 minutes in the US may take 1 hour here. Or what may normally be accomplished in a week there may take several months here. And what may take a year in America, well, that may not even happen within someone's lifetime in South Africa. But whether or not time really flows differently here, I can tell you that certainly it's perceived differently.
More loosely, you might say. Everyone here is very well aware of time, they have words in their language for referring to it and they understand you when you talk about it. But maybe they don't understand you quite the same, at least not the way us Americans talk about time: the vaTsonga people here just don't put as much weight into it. I guess to them, time means something, just not everything.
- Rural South Africans often see time as negotiable segments related to the events of the day.
- Americans may sometimes get so caught up on small quantities of time that we miss the big picture.
- Taking a broader perspective on time may also help Christians understand God.
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