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September 01, 2004
Famous Last Words: AfricaPundit
AfricaPundit has been incactive for several months. As I review my blogroll I found his last post somewhat inspiring. Whenever I see people carrying children it makes me feel good.
I'd say carrying babies piggy-back is probably a reflection of African ideas about proper childrearing. When a mother carries her baby, she is always available to feed, burp, change, or comfort whenever the baby gets whiny. You'd think that all this attention would lead to spoiled children, but everything seems to work out somehow.
Yup.
Posted by mbowen at September 1, 2004 02:55 PM
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Comments
Funny you should mention that particular post. Earlier this year I was visiting relatives in Nigeria, where at one point my sister and I went into a baby store. There was just about everything that you would find in a baby store in the U.S. But something was not quite right.
It wasn't until I read that post from AfricaPundit about a month ago that it hit me what it was. I saw the strollers, and bottles, and baby beds, etc. and now I realize that I never once saw a single person in Africa using a stroller or feeding their baby with a bottle. (Although my nephew had a pretty nice baby bed.)
I suppose when you try to introduce something to a different culture, you are probably best off studying the culture first. Even if you did buy a stroller in Africa, there are no sidewalks to stroll on. And if you saw how people drive, you would know why a woman carrying a baby near the road would want to be more fleet of foot when transporting a child.
Posted by: Marty Johnson at September 1, 2004 08:19 PM