Childhood

The birth of a child is a great joy. Eight days after the birth the family performs the naming ritual; and the baby will settle for a long time behind its mother’s back, tied to it with a wide stripe of fabric. Comparative researches have shown that before the age of 3 years African children usually surpass European infants in their development, which is to a large extent related to the fact that they spend most of the time nestling upon their mothers’ backs.

Africans love their children, but they have no habit of spoiling them. That is why, the best food is usually given not to the children, but to the adults who perform the most difficult jobs, and the children have to be content with what is left. Also, it is not considered wrong to beat a child if he or she is guilty. And as soon as children grow up a little bit, they become involved in housework. They help their mother collect firewood, look after a baby brother or sister, guard a field from voracious birds.

An African child does not usually have a lot of toys, and quite often these toys are made by children themselves. Children normally play with each other, as in an African village kids make more than half of the population. However, they not only chase the red-headed agama lizards, collect sweet berries around their village or play games. For example, Bamana children have their own secret society Ntomo which possesses all attributes of grown-up’s societies: an initiation ritual, a mask, a buzzer which sound scares away non-members, a special dance.

Of course, with the growing of towns, the advent of television and the expansion of school education there have been many changes in the life of African children. Village people who stick to the traditional ways believe that town dwellers cannot educate their children properly, and their children grow up impolite and good-for-nothing.

To pose for camera is the most interesting game!  Guinea. The Maninka. Ye. V. Perehvalskaya. 2006.		Birth control poster in Krio language. Freetown, Perekhvalskaya E., 2006.		Manding people say: “Chief is the master of a village, and children are masters of the street”. Sebekoro, Vydrin V., 1998
African women usually carry their babies on their back, tying them up with a broad piece of cloth. Ouagadougou, Erman A., 2007