Divine women

A typical African village consists of several houses sometimes thatched huts, sometimes thatched like igloo style houses it basically varies. The houses are built with a cultural link  and hence influences the positioning and style of the hut/house. For example the kikuyu of Kenya used to build their houses with the door facing Mount Kenya which is where they believed their god ngai lived. So everyday they got up in the morning and left the house  and did not start their day without praying while facing mt Kenya. Some luo villages on the other hand built their houses according to hierarchy (the sons of the home inherited the land) and the oldest sons house was closest to their parents home and opposite this house is the second born sons house/hut and the rows ran along into the farming area. Luos also have a piece of land within the village to bury the family members (I’m sure other African cultures do as well). Africans as you may know take a lot of pride in their land which is very sacred to them. It’s where they feel protected, learn, are born and are buried. Before the missionaries and colonialists Africans had large pieces of land that they inherited from their forefathers/ancestors. They did not need title deeds everyone knew clearly where their land began and ended and since they believed strongly in spirits they knew not to take or steal the land of their neighbors or they would upset the spirits hence they, their families, children  and children’s children would be cursed.(remember the family members are buried in the village and the spirits are supposed to rest in piece on their land) There also were very very few if not no homeless people or children because every child was born in a village and hence belonged to that home and it was the responsibility of the adults and grandparents in that village to raise those children. There was nothing like divorce so children were always raised with both parents present if a parent dies then  and uncle or aunt would take the position of the dead parent if not a step mother. Although polygamy was the way of life in most communities it is not what the western culture paints it out to be. It had its advantages and its disadvantages like every tradition and practice but it did keep the family together.  The family was also the economic breadwinner for the family sometimes community depending on how close the family worked together how productive and creative they were they achieved a certain amount of success and recognition for their contribution to the community, so basically success came from the family members teaming up to do what was and is best for the family and the community and that differentiated one family from another and raised the status of some families. Hence you would typically hear praises on a certain family Kamau or be shown a certain prestigious home of a family Otieno and what these families have done, achieved you get the pictures( kind like celebrity status thing). I also remember my grandmother picking up certain herbs from her farm when we had an upset stomach or headache and so on and she usually made a tea like drink and within minutes you were up and running. Nowadays these herbs are basically nowhere to be found.  So there was also traditional herbal medicines that were right there in the villages.  But that’s for another blog. So I hope I have given you and insight of an African village, its richness and the breadth of opportunities it used to offer African people and still can if we start to learn and read and understand about African way of life, the sense of community, the collectiveness the education the  amazing oral stories that were told under the stars moonlight around a nice warm fire drinking fresh coconut juice or whatever juice is available in the farm or eating fresh sugarcane which I love and misss soooooo much.