When you go to market, it's market day

Saturday’s plan seemed somewhat normal to Nate and me. 10:00 worship practice at the church, 12:00 meet up with some friends for lunch and an afternoon together.

Last time we went to practice we arrived at 10:00 like proper westerners, but practice did not start until 11:00. Not to make the same mistake twice, Nate and I left the house at 10:45 to make it to church by 11:00, patting ourselves on the back for how acculturated we had become to the African concept of time.

We pulled into the church, and found a few members of the band on stage, plinking around on the keyboard and talking. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. I sat around with the band for a while and chatted with one of the singers named Prisca. Two guitarists strolled in around 11:15, and another at 11:20. Now we had the full band, but still no sign of the woman in charge. Finally the “Minister of Music,” Pastor Marcie arrived. At last we were going to get somewhere. After greeting everyone in the circle she asked, “Where’s Gracie? She’s the one with all the music this week. She’s going to be leading.”

Pastor Marcie left to make some phone calls, and Nate and I remained with the predicament. Eventually, figuring that the practice could stretch into the late hours of the afternoon and we couldn’t make our friends wait that long, we decided to break it to Pastor Marcie that we couldn’t stay because we had made other plans.

Pastor Marcie had gone to university in the US, so she knew exactly why we were coming to her office. “You need to go,” she said, half asking. I explained to her that we were still too western in our idea of time, that we planned two things in one day. “You know,” she said, “there’s a Kikuyu proverb that says, ‘When you go to market, it’s market day.’” She explained that market was a place to catch up with everyone, to talk about your family, to shop, to connect with the community. You blocked out a whole day for that one event.

She told us to come next week, and it would start on time because she is the one leading next week.

“So, next week I’ll come at 10:00 for practice?” I asked.

“Yes, next Saturday come at 10:00 for practice. No, no, no, wait…..11:00. Come at 11:00.”