Field Work and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“It’s these sorts of things that make Happy not very happy.”

-          Happy Nkhonya, CCAP Field Coordination Officer

Allow me to tell you about my field work.  But first I’d like to preface this post by informing the world that I recently made the explicit decision to not be frustrated by things anymore.  I know this sounds like a bit of an odd thing to “decide” to do, but trust me, you should try it.  After getting delayed going to the field due to a variety of reasons was becoming the norm for my days, I was beginning to develop decent amounts of anxiety about getting my work done.  I had been letting it get to me, fuming away about how brutal the situation was, leading to unproductive days wandering around Rumphi and Mpherembe under the guise of productivity.  It wasn’t until one morning when I showed up ready to head to the field and my coworker was called away for a different project that I made the decision to not let it get to me anymore.  This resolution has however been put to the test over the course of the remainder of my field work with a whole slew of new and exciting stressors.

One particular day turned out to be rather taxing with respect to my ability to keep my cool.  We set off later than originally expected due to assorted “chatty” community members who had something to say about everything.  When we finally headed out to the field, we stopped along the way to investigate a disconcerting flutter coming from the engine.  After a preliminary assessment and half an hour of lost time, my coworker decided that it was probably the spark plug, but that it would survive until the end of the day.  So we carried on and visited our first borehole which happened to be at a school.  Unfortunately, the chair of the waterpoint committee was the school headmaster who happened to be teaching when we arrived.  No problem, this is totally reasonable, so we arranged to meet later in the day and headed off to the next borehole on our list.

Upon arriving at the next site, we began tracking down members of the waterpoint committee and quickly learned that everyone important in the community was away at a funeral.  As well, the funeral was for a fairly important person within the area, so the surrounding communities (read: surrounding boreholes) would also be busy for the morning.  No problem, this is totally reasonable, so we planned to come back in the afternoon.

The next boreholes were back the way we had come since we had planned to visit them on the way back to town.  Unfortunately, this now meant excessive back tracking, but it was either that or sit around for the entire morning.  So we set off and arrived at the next borehole on our list, but were unable to find anyone so we went to a nearby house.  When we got to the house and explained what we were after, we were invited to sit down while one of the old men sitting on the porch went to call the chair of the waterpoint committee.  Assuming the chair lived nearby, we sat down and chatted with the old men for a bit.  Then we sat there in awkward silence once we ran out of things to chat about.  Then, forty minutes later, the old man and the chair returned.  By now, we were getting close to our appointed time to be back at the school, but no problem, these sorts of things happen.

When we eventually got back to the school, classes were out, but the headmaster had graciously waited for our return and we went through the interview for the borehole at the school.  After completing the interview, we headed back to the boreholes we had skipped due to the funeral.  It was now getting late and I was hoping to head back after just one more interview, but as it turned out, the group village headman (read: important person) was waiting for us at the next borehole, meaning bailing on the interview was not really an option.  So we finished the survey we were on and headed to visit the GVH long after I would have liked to have been heading home.

When we eventually headed for home, the fluttering in the engine that we had heard in the morning persisted and we stopped again on the side of the road to check things out.  After pulling off whatever covers we could and disconnecting any parts we were able to with the few tools at our disposal, we realized neither of us knew what was wrong with the engine so we put it back together, hoped for the best and set off to town.

At the end of the day, I was reasonably frustrated by the delays and confusion.  But one thing I’ve found helps to put things into perspective when I’m feeling grumpy is the “If-this-were-Canada” test.  It’s as simple as it sounds, I just try to think about what it’d be like if the same situation that has me frustrated had occurred in Canada.  If I was at home and my water suddenly stopped working, I don’t think I’d be very impressed if the utility board sent some university student over on a motorcycle unannounced who didn’t speak my language or have the means to actually help me out.  Not only would I not be impressed, I’m reasonably certain that I wouldn’t give him an hour of my time to talk about the barriers that I face when trying to access water.  And I definitely wouldn’t offer him a bag full of cassava when he left.  I realized that I had let myself get too focused on accomplishing my objectives and had failed take a step back to look at what I’m actually doing here.

So now I try my best to roll with it and find my happy, calming chakra to Zen out.  I try to push for things when I can to make sure I’m actually able to get something done, but I work hard to accept those things that I can’t influence and make the best use of the time that I gain when things do fall through.  And it seems to be working so far.

Adapt, adopt and improve,

Fraser

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