EVA Travel

 Like riding a bike- cow milking once learned is never forgotten

My experience of culture shock started at an early age. When I was 9 years old my family moved from New York City to a very rural part of Ireland. As a New York kid in the 60’s we had TV, running water, electricity, a car- do you see where this is going?

My parents, 4 siblings and I moved in with an ancient spinster aunt of my fathers. She lived in what had been a 4-room thatched cottage now with tin roof, pump in the yard for water, tilly lamp for light, open fire for cooking and an outside toilet that was frequently moved. It was a plank of wood with a hole cut in the centre over a hole. (The long drop is what they call it in Africa.) And despite what my brothers would tell you, I had to milk a cow every evening when I got home from school so that we had milk and we had to use the pump to provide all the water for us.

So to call that culture shock is an understatement. No more rides to school- I was presented with a bike and told to ride 3 miles each way each day. Irish language was a compulsory subject so I was put into the baby class to learn it. And to top it all it was 1969, so the news was filled with the violence in the northern part of the country. But you know what, I survived. We built a modern house eventually and now that transition is part of the family lore.

My next shock was moving back to the USA in 1981. I left the cosy confines of Dublin where I was very socially involved in current affairs and landed in Miami. Now that was a culture shock! No-one spoke English! In America! I nursed in Coral Gables for about a year and slowly became accustomed to patients not wearing pyjama tops (men) and divorcees (women). Divorce was still illegal in Ireland at this point as was homosexuality so both of these states were incredibly exotic to me. I moved from there to Tennessee, so you can see that I know a little about culture shock.

This all brings me in a roundabout way to our EVA Travel give-back tours to Africa. I’ve wanted to come to Africa since I was about 16 years old and read a Mills and Boons book (Harlequin) about a nurse who comes to Africa, falls down the stairs of the plane, breaks her ankle and falls in love with the tall doctor with blue eyes. There’s the obligatory crisis but I’m pretty sure they got it together in the end. I had an incredibly romanticised view of the continent although the reality of poverty, political unrest and famine loomed large in my mind too.

So my first trip to Uganda last year was a new, updated version of culture shock. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Africa but the rose tinted glasses need to come off. Many of the countries I’ve visited so far were all colonised and are only now starting to get to grips with the intricacies of independence. In Ireland we were luckier in that we had the EU to support our infrastructure but that is not yet widespread in Africa. There is a movement to create a Union of East African states to share a common currency, language, and trading arrangements but that’s still a long way off. The AU or African Union is another example of how the continent is beginning to get to grips with their combined challenges.

For first timers, you’re much like me arriving in Abbeyleix in 1969. The electricity goes off when half your hair is dry, the lights disappear halfway through reading the menu, everything leaks and there’s a good chance you won’t get a shower every day. The mid-range hotels we use will not have a microwave in the room, there will not be a coffee maker and you’ll have to chase down a second towel. Oh and bring your own soap and shampoo.

So why do we love Africa? Oh let me count the ways. The people. Unfailingly helpful and delighted to see you. The food. Well most of it- I’m not a fan of goat. But the flavours, textures and pure taste of the food is amazing. The scenery. The sheer vastness of the Serengetti, the majesty of Murchison Falls, the thousand hills of Rwanda. The wildlife. Gorillas. Actually, I would stop at gorillas because that is a memory I relive almost every day- the privilege of sitting with a family of mountain gorillas eating their food. But if you must- there are prides of lions, cheetahs, zebras, meerkats, elephants giraffes and hundreds more. And you get to drive around safely in a jeep taking in the absolute glory of all of this.

So its dusty- it’s Africa. That doesn’t mean it or the children are dirty or filthy, it just means you need to get used to the dust that gets into your crevices and stays there. So its bumpy- it’s called African massage. So your budget hotel doesn’t have Tom Cruise shaking cocktails- get a bottle of gin at the supermarket and shake your own. So there's no hairdryer- no-one's looking.

There are shops and supermarkets so you can get whatever you feel you are missing when you get here, but you really need to come with an open mind for this type of affordable give-back travel. I cannot reconcile the idea of staying in 4 or 5 star accommodation, particularly while we're on project and working with some of the poorest people on the planet. We promise you an authentic experience and that is what we deliver. It's not all primitive, we definitely stay in some lovely places, but it's nearly always mid-range.

It takes a bit of adjustment to get used to Africa but everyone I know has loved it deeply and more than almost anywhere else, they always want to come back. So I would advise you to adjust your expectations just a little, read the packing hack and the packing list and come to Africa with an open heart as well. You’ll need it as you leave a little behind every time.