Meetings of Endurance

Meetings in Uganda tend to be a feat of endurance, while meetings in America are more likely to resemble a sprint.  Even after spending one year in Uganda, I still struggle with the cultural differences with respects to meetings, which is unfortunately because I go to many.

Generally speaking, meetings usually start on “African Time.”  To put this in perspective, if an American scheduled a meeting for 9 am, you would get there by 8:55 am just in case, right?  You don’t want to be that person that tries to sneak in quietly at 9:05 only to scrape your chair against the floor as you take a seat, and the whole room turns to judge you.  In Uganda, if a meeting is supposed to start at 9 am, you’ll be lucky if it starts by 11 am.  Even though I am well aware of this cultural norm, I still manage to be the first one to most meetings.  I try to set a good example, but I’m also eternally optimistic that we’ll start only an hour behind!

Every meeting needs to have an agenda, which is either posted in the room or written on the blackboard.  Usually, they look something like this:

1.     National Anthem

2.     Prayer

3.     Introductions

4.     Communication from the chairman

5.     Speech by:

6.     Reactions and remarks

7.     A Way Forward

8.     Closing

Agendas such as this are common even for meetings of five people!  Usually, they are closely followed, unless a “big person” drops in.  When I say “big people,” I don’t mean physically big people!  Anyone that holds an important role, such as the District Education Officer or a local council member, is considered to be “big people.”  When they happen to drop by, whether they are on the agenda or not, the attending members are expected to rise and welcome them.  The big person will be given the best seat, an introduction from the chairperson and unlimited talk time, even if we started two hours behind.

Regardless of location, a prayer is said at every meeting, including schools.  It used to make me feel really uncomfortable to be standing in a classroom with my head bowed as someone prayed over us.  After 12 years in a public school, it ironically seemed like a sin to pray out loud at school.  Ugandans are equally shocked that we don’t teach religion in school, which is a testable subject here.

If you want good attendance and a happy audience, it’s very important to provide food.  In college, we used food to attract people to events and information sessions, but I would never expect a school to cater a PTA meeting.  Shorter meetings just serve a soda as a treat; however, day-long meetings are expected to serve “lunch.”  More often than not, I do not consider it lunch, but an early dinner.  The meal is not served until the meeting is over; otherwise, people would leave once they were fed.  I am not exaggerating when I say that multiple times, I’ve left my house for a meeting at 9:30 am and was not served “lunch” until 5 pm.  The rice and meat always tastes so good!  Some meetings will serve tea around midday.  Even if I don’t like the snack, I force it down with expectations to be starved later.

Most meetings I attend are with teachers, head teachers or college tutors, so language usually is not a problem.  I have attended four meetings that are General Parents Meetings.  Many parents do not understand English very well, so the meeting is conducted exclusively in Lunyole.  During these meetings, I can understand about 10-25% of the content.  I tend to drift in and out of concentration, despite my best efforts to appear focused.

Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to have your cell phone ring in America during a meeting?  Again, people would be turning to shoot you disapproving and censorious (GRE WORD!) looks.   In Uganda, it is common for cell phones to ring every 15 minutes, which phases no one.  Furthermore, it is completely appropriate to either A) leave the meeting, even if you were one speaking, B) try to bend over in your chair and quietly answer it.  I believe this is acceptable because in Uganda, you spend airtime to call someone, but not to answer.  So, if you do the American polite thing and silence the call, you’re costing yourself money because you’ll have to call that person back!

Meetings will always be a source of annoyance for me, but I have learned a number of ways to maintain my sanity.  (NOTE: I only do these things when the meeting is not applicable to my position or me!  Of course, I pay attention when I should.)

1.     I do not allow myself to open any notebooks for the first hour.  During the first hour, I can usually pay attention without wanting to melt down.  After that, I can spend time planning for the next week, writing to do lists, writing new English stories for my classes and doodling.

2.     If I’m given a “working soda,” I try to make it last as long as possible, even if I just want to gulp it down.

3.     I quiz myself on the people in the meeting: their names, the schools they work at, etc.

4.     As you noticed above, I’m trying to study GRE vocabulary.  I’ve started to carry my flashcards with me everywhere.  I think they are more discreet than blatantly reading a book, although some PCVs do.

5.     Sudoku.

6.     Daydreaming.  Common topics: American food, my next vacation, my last vacation, my life after Peace Corps, American food.

7.     Although I don’t do this as much anymore, I used to spend a lot of time counting the number of days, weeks or months I’ve been in service and tried to determine how much time remained.

I admit that I’m looking forward to attending American meetings again, but I am concerned that it will take a while for me to readjust.  In the first few months, I may show up hours late, answer my cell phone mid-meeting and demand lunch.  Mostly, I’m worried that I will be unable to control my ability to zone out for hours at a time.  Thankfully, I don’t have to put that handy skill on my résumé.  Otherwise, I may never get hired.