Old Africa hands are painfully familiar with the phenomenon known as "Wawa." It stands for West Africa Wins Again, and summarizes the frustrating inability to mesh modern methods and ancient habits. Wawa crops up at cable offices, where either the Telex or the telegrapher are inevitably out. It turns up at the airport, where engines, customs officials or both are missing just when someone is desperately in need of a flight. Wawa hovers miasmatically in hotel rooms, turning a once placid shower into a veritable Victoria Falls, or switches telephone calls from...
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