It took my family and I almost two hours to get to the airport at Entebbe on Saturday. Traffic crawled along and we thought there was an accident on the way. But we crawled along until we go to Entebbe, no accident, just lost of cars and trucks on the road. We arrived at the entrance and we were told that our favorite airline gate was closed.
We pleaded with airport security and airline representative but we were told that we were late - gate closed an hour ago. So we called our travel agent who insisted that we could still board because aour seats were "available". She said "you be an African and put something in that man's hands". The "that man" was the supposed supervisor. I said "put something in his hands?", "yes!" was the response. So we ended up staying the night in Entebbe for the next flight where we did not have to "put something in that man's hands" and where I did not have to prove the authenticity of my Africaness.
Be an African? it got me thinking about the numerous negative associations with Africa. "This is Africa or TIA" is used to connote all the unthinkable behaviours we put up with. For example, only in Africa will a fake translator find his way to translate for world leaders on a day that we were celebrating the life of the great Nelson Mandela. Only in Africa, will $50 billion go "missing" as alleged in the newswires about the Nigerian National Petroluem Corporation (NNPC). And yes only in Africa will you have to "put something in that man's hands" in order to board a flight with four children to go on holidays after the checking had allegely closed.
But one can get carried away that all of Africa is like this or that some how Africans like mediocrity. The temptation to think that is real but we are reminded by J.S. Mills that the "worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals comprising it". It is the individuals, it is not Africa. Samuel Smiles wrote in 1904 that "National progress is the sum of individual industry, energy and uprightness as national decay is of individual idleness, selffishness and vice". It is not because we have poor national leadership that people decide to take bribes. People make the choice to take bribes as people make the choice to deliver poor customer service or throw empty bottles of water from thier cars.
It will be too easy to blame the greed of one airline supervisor on the continent but the root of this type of behavior is located in the personal decision and choice of that supervisor. To ask for bribes to do your job has nothing to do with Africa. It was an individual choice. So we waited the extra day and took the flight complete with upgrades for my wife and I by another supervisor on duty who noticed that we did not board the previous day. Not to mention the wonderful time we spent with Simon R. from the Center of Creative Leadership (CCL).
And it is this type of simple acts by the second supervisor on the second day that gives hope and reminds us of what Samuel Smiles wrote so many years ago "The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, with its cares, necessities and duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of teh best kind; and it is most beaten paths provide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room for self improvement. The road to human welfarelies along the old highway of steadfast well doing; and they who are most persistent and work in the truest spirit will usually be the most successful".
Merry Christmas!
We pleaded with airport security and airline representative but we were told that we were late - gate closed an hour ago. So we called our travel agent who insisted that we could still board because aour seats were "available". She said "you be an African and put something in that man's hands". The "that man" was the supposed supervisor. I said "put something in his hands?", "yes!" was the response. So we ended up staying the night in Entebbe for the next flight where we did not have to "put something in that man's hands" and where I did not have to prove the authenticity of my Africaness.
Be an African? it got me thinking about the numerous negative associations with Africa. "This is Africa or TIA" is used to connote all the unthinkable behaviours we put up with. For example, only in Africa will a fake translator find his way to translate for world leaders on a day that we were celebrating the life of the great Nelson Mandela. Only in Africa, will $50 billion go "missing" as alleged in the newswires about the Nigerian National Petroluem Corporation (NNPC). And yes only in Africa will you have to "put something in that man's hands" in order to board a flight with four children to go on holidays after the checking had allegely closed.
But one can get carried away that all of Africa is like this or that some how Africans like mediocrity. The temptation to think that is real but we are reminded by J.S. Mills that the "worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals comprising it". It is the individuals, it is not Africa. Samuel Smiles wrote in 1904 that "National progress is the sum of individual industry, energy and uprightness as national decay is of individual idleness, selffishness and vice". It is not because we have poor national leadership that people decide to take bribes. People make the choice to take bribes as people make the choice to deliver poor customer service or throw empty bottles of water from thier cars.
It will be too easy to blame the greed of one airline supervisor on the continent but the root of this type of behavior is located in the personal decision and choice of that supervisor. To ask for bribes to do your job has nothing to do with Africa. It was an individual choice. So we waited the extra day and took the flight complete with upgrades for my wife and I by another supervisor on duty who noticed that we did not board the previous day. Not to mention the wonderful time we spent with Simon R. from the Center of Creative Leadership (CCL).
And it is this type of simple acts by the second supervisor on the second day that gives hope and reminds us of what Samuel Smiles wrote so many years ago "The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, with its cares, necessities and duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of teh best kind; and it is most beaten paths provide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room for self improvement. The road to human welfarelies along the old highway of steadfast well doing; and they who are most persistent and work in the truest spirit will usually be the most successful".
Merry Christmas!
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