Kuuliza si ujinga

The methods of delivering things in rural Africa are very different from those in America. For example:

My sitemate and I share a P.O. box. But we only have one key. Since I live farther away and often arrive in town after the post office has closed for the day, I have the key. My sitemate simply walks into the post office and asks for his mail.

This would work well, except the post office workers give him my mail as well as his mail. Usually, we meet in town for lunch and he passes on my mail. But yesterday, he had already left town by the time I arrived. So, we decided he would leave my mail with the people who run one of the internet cafes in town. As back-up, he told me how many pieces of mail there were, so I would know that I had received all of them.

And it worked-I retrieved all of my mail, no problems, no questions asked.

Messages are also passed from person to person via notes in my village. I had a student I had planned to meet with at school one day, but he had to stay home that day to take care of his siblings. That morning, another student handed me a note with my name on it. He doesn't have a cell phone, so he had written a note explaining that he wouldn't be able to come, and given it to a friend to give to me.

The "random person you sort of know" delivery system is also used for more valuable things. I usually give my cell phone to the school guard to charge; most of the time, he returns it to me personally. But occasionally I've had random students hand it to me. This would never work in a city; in a small village, everyone knows who you are and where they can find you if the cell phone doesn't reach its destination.

And another delivery story . . . my Peace Corps passport was passed from a Peace Corps employee to a Peace Corps volunteer in Moshi. It was then passed between four Peace Corps volunteers and my headmaster before reaching me. All people I know, at least . . . and more direct than the post office, as I didn't have to go to town to fetch the passport!