No Hurry in Africa Read Online Free PDF Page A

I was going hammer and tongs at it for nearly an hour when the computer suddenly conked out. The generator outside had stopped. It often did. I strolled over to see what the problem was. The Akamba will see a problem coming, but invariably decide to do nothing about it until it is too late. Kimanze had seen the generator was low on fuel, but waited until it ran out altogether and, as a result, I lost my work on the computer. Only now did he decide it was time to do something about it—more out of a laid-back attitude than anything else.
    While I was outside, I took the opportunity to greet Nzoki again. She too was outside, organising a group of workers. We shook hands again as one must do every time one says hello to an Akamba, with their elaborate three part handshake. I needed clarification from her.
    ‘Hello, Nzoki, would you be able to help me please? Is this a 1 or a 7?’
    I showed her a page from a battered copybook with figures handwritten in pencil.
    ‘How is you, Brendan?’
    ‘Fine still, thanks.’
    ‘How is your family?’
    ‘Well, I still haven’t spoken to them since I came to Kenya— but fine, I’m presuming again.’
    ‘How is Sr. MM?’
    ‘Ah, probably an hour older by now, I’d imagine!’
    ‘And what about your children?’
    ‘I still haven’t had any children born to me since the last time you were asking.’
    ‘I see you’ve washed your feet.’
    ‘Em, you wouldn’t be able to tell me please if that’s a 1 or a 7?’
    Nzoki puzzled over the piece of paper for a few moments,
    ‘It’s neither, Brendan.’
    ‘So what is it?’
    I nearly rolled my eyes.
    ‘A fraction line, it’s 8/5?’
    ‘Hmm, that changes all my calculations. Oh well, lucky the generator broke down before I went any further with it. Thanks. See you in a while, my calculator calls.’
    I was learning to adjust to the African pace, to accept all their questions, to embrace their ways. Pleasantries always took precedence over productivity.
    One of the first things I had to do was to computerise the recording systems. Everything up to then was in copybooks or on sheets of paper. Nobody could easily retrieve any useful or indeed essential information to improve the workings of the project. It frustrated Leo intensely. Everything, from excavating the raw materials for the blocks to cutting and shaping the tin for the roofs, had to be performed on-site.
    I quickly realised there would be little point in me putting a whole computerised system in place, only for it to collapse once I left. The other staff, barring Kiragu and his secretary, had never used or even seen a computer before. So I also began to train Nancy and a number of other clerks to type and navigate the computer. In time, they could input the data themselves, and later on again they could begin to use Word and Excel to create and access information they themselves required.
    When I finished for the day, I relaxed by dandering down to the dry river and loitering until dusk fell, fascinated by the wildlife. As this was the only place with an abundance of leaves and greenery, all the animals and birds congregated there once the heat seeped out of the day. Whenever I came tramping along, baboons rushed away, monkeys cleared off frightened and chittering, the small deer stared briefly and raced for cover, as did the rock hyraxes, the python, the tiny scampering lizards, the larger monitor-lizard, the pelicans, the birds with shiny white tails two feet long that I did not know the name of, the hyena, the marabou storks, the armadillo type creatures … amongst others.
    One late afternoon, I went exploring alone through the vegetation, further up the course of the dry river than I normally would. For one split second, I froze with fear as I espied in the fading light what looked like two young female lions stretched out on the branches of a tree. They spotted me a second later, staring straight at me for what, at the time, seemed like ages, but could not have been