T.I.A. - This Is Africa

TIA is a saying people have here when things don't go the way we want or expect them to. There is no use in getting angry or frustrated. You just have to let it go and go with the flow. Yesterday was the perfect example of a TIA moment.

George's sister, Darlene, runs a preschool. Yesterday she had a graduation ceremony for the kids going into first grade. She asked the family members to attend. My job was to take photos So, Suzy, George's sister, picked me up and we met her sister and Sarah, a student from the US, there. It was supposed to start at 10:00 and end 1:00. We arrived at 10:15 (which I was stressed about being 15 minutes late!) and Darlene was no where to be found. The kids were sitting in their chairs, but people were still setting up the tent and parents hadn't arrived yet.



So, the four of us just hung out thinking, surely this will start soon. 11:00 rolls around – not started. 12:00 – not started. 1:00 – Not started.

At this point, I was frustrated. We were supposed to leave at 1:00 and I had a ton of stuff to do in the afternoon. Finally at 1:30, the ceremony started. I looked at the program and it was scheduled to last four hours. There went my to-do list. I just had to take deep breaths and tell myself, people are more important than to do lists. Events don't start at the time they are scheduled, they start when everyone is there and everyone is ready.

The ceremony was nice and the kids were cute.






It began with prayer and a little sermon by the pastor who was the MC. Then the entertainment began. The kids sang songs and did a fashion show. That was my favorite part.



After, it was time for the speeches. Unfortunately, it was also time for a down pour. All of a sudden the sky opened and dumped a ton of rain on us and blew down the tent. For a few minutes it was chaos as kids and parents were running for cover. I got drenched during the run from the tent to the house.



After thirty minutes or so, we started again. We fast forwarded through the speeches and onto the presentations of the awards and certificates. Sarah and I assisted with that portion.






The ceremony was fun and it was a good lesson for me in letting go of my plans and just accepting what is happening now.