Makes me want to take a head!

Ostrich babies (in between Mom's legs)

On our recent trip to Zimbabwe we were listening to a variety of podcasts including one about “liget” (I think it was on Invisibilia). These two anthropologists had gone to the Philippines to study a head hunting tribe and in the process had uncovered a new emotion called “liget” (if you’re interested I found this link to an NPR story). While difficult to describe this emotion and the varying conditions under which the locals experienced it, there was one point in the podcast when in a “liget” induced fervor the tribe started chanting, “Makes us want to take a head!” This has turned out to be a useful phrase that I’ve muttered often in the final throes of the sale of Paul’s business.

As many of you know Paul has been in the process of selling his business (Ngami Data Services) and office block with several rental units for the last year. It has been a tumultuous and difficult time that has tried my patience and made me question my decision to live in this challenging country with first world bureaucratic expectations and third world infrastructure. This all started a bit over a year ago when a buyer approached us about buying Paul's building. After several conversations we were minutes away from closing the deal when Paul’s decade long business partner came to us to say he had gotten the money to buy the building and business (literally it was the morning of the day we were supposed to meet the other buyers at lunch to “shake on it”). Needless to say, we shifted gears and started the negotiations that were only finalized yesterday.

I returned to the States last August to start my fall semester and hoped that it would all be done by the time I returned for Christmas break. No such luck. When I left Botswana at the end of January to start my study away program in South Africa, I hoped it would be done before I returned to Botswana with the students for the final two weeks in March. No such luck. With ever growing frustration, I return to the States to finish off the semester and had hoped it would be done by the time I returned to Botswana for my summer break by the end of May. No such luck. With the promise it would be done by June 30, I put my metaphorical helmet back on and jumped back into the potentially deadly white water rapids of the final stretch of the sale. Feet up so as not to crash headfirst, I tried to float and prepare myself for the psychological thrashing to come…

When June 30 arrives with still no ink on paper I felt what I now suspect is “liget”, “Makes me want to take a head!” I’m not sure whose head exactly but there were many potential candidates (including my husband’s, as legal contract details and money orientation are not his forte). Or it could be BURS – Botswana Unified Revenue Services (like our IRS) who we spent hours with getting our official tax clearance certificate in June only to be told in July that we had not paid any taxes for the company since 2006, seriously?? Oh wait...just kidding, it’s just a huge computer problem that prevents them from accurately checking their own records!

I wish I could say that I was able to maintain my inner calm through all this but that would be lying. I’ve logged many hours on the treadmill at the local gym to try to prevent the top of my head from blowing off. And yesterday, finally…FINALLY! We signed the 14 page legal document (that I have read far too many times!!!).

So, this weekend I think we’ll celebrate by burning the multiple drafts of the contract we combed through over the last several weeks in our fire pit. We’ll patiently wait for the money to be transferred (because if Botswana breeds anything, it’s patience). We’ll watch the dozen new baby ostriches who visit us for their breakfast every morning. I’ll pat Spike, the dog that’s not my dog, on the head and pack my bags for my return trip to the States on Tuesday and perhaps exhale and hope I never feel “liget” again anytime soon (although I reserve the right to whisper under my breath at the upcoming two-day faculty meeting, “Makes me want to take a head” , if anything really irks me).