For over 20 years, I knew TIA as Transcient Ischemic Attack, or Stroke. And so a lot of you reading this post.
In the last 4 years, this acronym has taken a whole different meaning… one less serious from a health perspective, sometimes affectionate, sometimes frustrating, sometimes impressive, sometimes… well, it can cover any range of emotions really…
Moving away from the medical world, it now has the emotional meaning of This is Africa 🙂
This is used so commonly here that sometimes we do not think that a “newbie” will not understand. Whatever happens in Africa, good or bad, we can always explain it as TIA.
Even Wikipedia provides a definition:
“In Africa, there’s a saying “TIA” meaning “This Is Africa” – term of endearment/explanation typically used when tourists from western countries visit Africa, or expats work in Africa, to shrug off power shut downs, old technology, slow pace of business, questionable business ethics and dealings etc.”
Making a plan is a big part of things done in Africa – if we can’t do it the conventional way, if we don’t have the appropriate tool or part… no worries, “we’ll make a plan”. Never one to be demotivated, everything can be done. And that, for me, is one of the biggest point of TIA – This is Africa.
Everything can be done under TIA and all expectations can be re-adjusted through it – maybe one reason I love it so much.
I will try to post under a “TIA” tag from time to time, but you can have a look at the facebook page “Africa, this is why I live here” for some glimpse of Africa life, away from the tourist safari view…
https://www.facebook.com/AfricaThisIsWhyILiveHere/
(thanks Alejandro for showing me this page!)
mayandmeinafrica 