Before I get on my soap box and you start reading, I would like you to know that none of the opinions I will share here are because I was adopted. Well, I guess that's not strictly true as I am who I am and a part of that is adopted, but I reckon that's a bit of a stretch. This is just a little pointed bluster I feel I must put out there.

Am now stepping on my soap box … and away we go …

Ex-pats all over Africa can often be heard complaining about how disorganized everything is. We rant about long waits, rage about bureaucracies that appear to have no rhyme or reason and rail against public employees with bad attitudes. These complaints are based on fond memories of how things are “supposed” to work: as they do in our home countries.

The irony is rich, however, at least in my experience, as every time I am back in the States, I have experiences that are much more frustrating than just about anything I have encountered in Africa. My favorite example, and one of the most laughably ironic, is the last time I needed to get my passport renewed.

I was only to be Stateside for a short time and could not wait the usual months required for a new passport as I needed to return to work in Sudan. I wasn't worried, though, as there seemed to be a provision for urgent passport delivery albeit for a much higher than normal fee.

The recording on the hotline said to press a certain number in order to set-up an appointment for two-day passport provision. Happily, I pressed the button … only to find that the next available appointment would be in six weeks. An appointment for regular delivery I could have had in four days, but it would have taken six-eight weeks for delivery. I had to laugh … right after I completely freaked out on the recorded voice on the other end of the phone. There was no human available to speak to for miles, apparently, so I made do with what I had.

So yes, while there is clearly a system for everything in America, every time I am back I still spend plenty of time listening to people rant about long waits, rage about bureaucracies that appear to have no rhyme or reason and rail against public employees with bad attitudes. I even manage to participate in it all myself on special occasions (like the one mentioned above.) Every day, Americans in America spend hours waiting in line for a driver’s license, to pay a utility bill, to post a package, or any other number of mundane activities. We don’t like it, but we do it and accept it as it is, with just a bit of grumbling. Sounds like Africa. Makes me be more patient every time I go back to Africa.

We only normally even complain about these kinds of things on days when there just isn’t anything better to complain about or when we are talking to people to whom we don’t have anything more interesting to say as a form of 'misery-loves-company' small talk. Generally, this kind of thing is not really classified as a “problem.” Even in the mad American media mechanism, there has never been much of an angle for some sort of sensational news drama surrounding standing in line and having to wait for most things in life, even in the good ol’ US of A … until election time, every time it comes around.

It's that time.
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