it takes a village to raise a child

We've all heard this famous African proverb, but have you ever wondered what it really means? As I was reading an article about the traditional religious influence on orphans in Africa, I learned a little bit more about how literally that proverb is implemented in African villages. There is a unity and bond between those within a village that brings a sense of duty and responsibility for one another. Extended family is so important and one's support network is made up of mostly one's extended family, but I think also other members of your village. Even when someone moves to the city or somewhere away from home, they remain forever loyal to their family and village. The sense of inter-relatedness within a community is so strong, that when one person commits a moral crime, it is believed that everyone within the village is negatively affected by it and a cleansing ritual has to be performed. Everyone is so closely connected and knows everything about everyone (well so it seems to me), that literally everyone is raised by everyone. When a child's parents die, then their mother's sister or someone else within their "extended family support network", takes them in, even if they don't have the money or resources to really support another child. It is believed that if you neglect your responsibility to care for an orphan, you will face the wrath of the ancestors.

When I compare this to my own life, it makes me kind of sad how little I know about my neighbors. I basically only know the neighbors directly to the left, right and across the street from me and beyond that, I wouldn't even be able to tell you names. I definitely don't feel a huge sense of unity within my neighborhood. Even within my family, I don't really know any of my relatives beyond my dad's immediate family and my mom's immediate family and there are even some of those family members who I never see or have very good relationships with. I really love the idea in Africa of having this large support group that is held so strongly together where everyone watches out for each other. It might be kind of weird to have everyone know everything about my life, but there would be extra motivation to not do anything stupid! I also feel like there wouldn't be so many homeless people and orphans and people not being taken care of, if everyone had a larger support system while growing up.

I recognize that this article was written in very general terms referring to all of Africa, which is a humongous place, and everyone and every village, I'm sure, is different. I also know that many things have changed since 2005, but my brother told me that many of the women he works with in Uganda take care of their sister's children or their children's children, so it was interesting to get some more insight into that aspect of African culture.