T.I.A.
September 7, 2011
Katie McIntosh

If you have spent any time in Africa (or maybe if you haven’t) you may be familiar with the expression TIA, which stands for This is Africa. TIA is an expression you use if you are experiencing something that is uniquely African. If everything is not as you expected it to be, you are having a TIA moment.

That said, if there is anything I have learned, it is that you should simply never expect anything. Don’t expect to eat, don’t expect fuel to be available, don’t expect to arrive at your destination, don’t expect to be punctual, don’t expect there to be light, don’t expect your drink to be cold, etc. Don’t expect your drink to be warm either though. Although don’t expect that if you ordered a drink it will come in the first place. Don’t expect that it won’t come either and don’t expect that if you only ordered one, you will get one and not two. In fact, don’t expect to get the actual drink that you ordered. Don’t expect to get a different drink though. Don’t expect it to be the same price as last time. Just accept that you ordered a drink that may or may not come, may or may not be the right drink, may or may not be cold. That is it. If you receive the right drink within 5 minutes and it is cold, you should be pleasantly surprised and have a great day. If not, no biggie, you weren’t expecting anything anyway. This general attitude is the way I role in Sierra Leone. When I notice I am frustrated or annoyed, I take a step back and realize that I expected something that didn’t materialize and try not to do so again.

Okay, I got side-tracked. Let’s move back to TIA. TIA came up when my parents came to visit and experienced some frustration driving through some pretty horrible Freetown traffic. I didn’t think much of it because I wasn’t expecting to get to our hotel at any specific time, but they weren’t as used to these circumstances. At first they didn’t quite understand. When our waitress at the hotel restaurant didn’t bring our drink orders within the first twenty minutes, my dad said “TIA”………not quite.

Let me give you a true TIA example:

During part of my parents’ visit, we stayed at a small resort called Franco’s, which is on a beach about thirty or so minutes outside of Freetown. Andrea and I had gone into Freetown for a few hours one day to run a few errands and whatnot with the help of our driver, Vandy. While we were on our way out of Freetown, the vehicle broke-down in the middle of heavy Freetown traffic. Because the starter on the car was not working, we had been starting the vehicle with a push, while Vandy would ride the clutch, but this night the clutch broke. It was dark, we were sitting in the middle of the road that has been under construction for years, everyone was honking at us, etc. Vandy tried calling other CAUSE drivers in Freetown, but no one was able to come pick us up. Vandy ended up negotiating a taxi for us (who of course wanted to wayyyy over-charge us) and he suggested he ask a police man to go with use to make sure we would be okay. While this was being negotiated, a crowd began to build around us of people trying to help, and even a friend of a friend of ours spotted us and came over to assist. After we had negotiated the price, the policeman suggested we go with another taxi driver, whom he knew. Of course the other taxi driver wasn’t happy with this, but we jumped in the other taxi and went. The distance was way further than he thought it would be, it was dark, and you could hear the rocks scraping the bottom of the car on the bad road. Since it was further than the driver thought, we had to find a place to get fuel in the middle of nowhere since we were going to run out, so we picked up a guy to bring us somewhere we could find fuel. I played navigator in the dark because neither the driver nor the policeman knew where we were going. The only landmark I knew was the sign that says “Florences”, which is not entirely obvious in the dark. You quite literally cannot see the turn off. Needless to say, we arrived much later than we may have anticipated (although not expected). Because we did not expect anything and because we appreciated the experience for the true TIA moment that it was, Andrea and I didn’t mind the extra hassle. In fact, we were quite enjoying ourselves. At the very least, the taxi driver had a good taste in music.

So there you have it. Keep your expectations flexible – This is Africa.