Habesha Kataro

Last week I ran a series of workshops at the training center. Although I'm familiar, by now, with the fact that people in Ethiopia don't show up on time, I was concerned about being able to finish everything I had planned in one short hour. Luckily the late start allowed me to request everyone to stay later, so I still had enough time.
The first person to arrive was almost right on time and apologized for the fact that others were late. He told me that the phrase for this in Ethiopia is Habesha kataro, meaning "Ethiopian schedule". Since I had a presentation open with the starting time on the first slide being projected onto the wall, I entered these words next to the start time. Slowly, as people arrived, we were able to begin, and then they noticed the phrase. One instructor hung his head in embarrassment, and although I meant it as a joke, I must admit I was glad to see that reaction. At least people are polite about it and apologize when they arrive late, but these are the types of things you need to learn to work with when overseas or else doom yourself to frustration.