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2008-06-17 Africa Subsaharan

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Posted by 3dc 2008-06-17 01:22|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 While I refrained from commenting on LL, my observations:
Lack of adult males.
The emphasis on 'children playing'.
Lack of adult males.
Children missed school before to fetch water?
Lack of adult males.
Women tending fields.
Lack of adult males.
Oh...and I wonder if 'play-time' on the 'merry-go-round' is now mandatory?

The hypocrisy in using children as laborers, wrapped in a 'feel-good'/liberal blanket astonishes me.

Posted by Ike 2008-06-17 10:28|| 2008-06-17 10:28|| Front Page Top

#2 Tending the fields has always been women's work in sub-Saharan Africa, Ike, according to the anthropology texts I read as a child. Girls missing school, likewise, school being a luxury while water is a necessity. I even know of a corporate charity project that simply provides sanitary napkins to adolescent girls in that part of the world because otherwise they aren't permitted in school while menstruating. The lack of adult males is a cogent point, though -- one would think they'd be involved in things large, mechanical, and important to the community.

As for the mandatory play time, I don't doubt it is mandatory, at least in the sense that no play equals no water. But that's still less time consuming, less physically laborious, and more fun than trekking down to the river and back, a jerry can at a time. The children were already labourers, as they are in all non-First World economies. There is no hypocrisy in making that labour a bit easier.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-06-17 11:53|| 2008-06-17 11:53|| Front Page Top

#3 "The work that is really a man's own work is play and not work at all."
Mark Twain

Genious. Looks like their lifestyle is not so dissimilar from this area's Little House on the Prarie years. You get 4 kids who liked a merry-go-round like I did and the adults would have to worry about too much water!

Posted by swksvolFF 2008-06-17 12:28|| 2008-06-17 12:28|| Front Page Top

#4 While I had no sound on my computer, I believe I get the gist of this.

As someone currently living is Sub-Saharan Africa, I do not exactly understand this emphasis on children playing. They do play. They make their own play and to be sure it is more intellectually stimulating than the merry-go-round.

All the same, I am glad to see a labor saving device. They are sorely needed here for both the women and the children.

And Ike, perhaps I missed something without the audio, but yes, children likely missed a lot of school fetching water. Boys and girls alike -boys for the animals and fields when they are small and the girls for the cooking, babysitting and feilds until whenever the family decided (if ever) they can go to school.
Oh, and the lack of adult males? They are all in the city. Much of the rural and/or farming population in my region is comprised of women and children and younger males who have not yet gone to the cities to try and earn money. Or old men who either are too old to work with the women or see it as womens work and therefore won't do it.

Posted by sjb 2008-06-17 18:34|| 2008-06-17 18:34|| Front Page Top

#5 Thank you for the local perspective, sjb. That is one of the things that makes Rantburg so valuable. The charity lady in the video did go on a bit about girls now no longer having to miss part of the school day because they were fetching water, unlike the boys... however realistic, or unrealistic, her comment might be.

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2008-06-17 22:21|| 2008-06-17 22:21|| Front Page Top

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