It Takes A Village
Words by Christine Mary Adolf
Poetry | Issue 02
They say it takes a village to raise a child.
Here, it takes an island.
In town, under the watchful eyes of the askaris, the bibis, the fruit-sellers, the beggars, the lazy men sitting around drinking coffee and chatting but always glancing at you.
Put socks on that baby, nurse them, let me pray and recite the Quran over them, put charcoal on their forehead to ward off the evil eye, put a sun hat on them- always offering unsolicited advice, judging.
On the dala dala, we pass the baby from one set of hands to another. Maybe we are also trying to pass along the responsibility of raising the child. Go to grandma, go to aunty, go to the mother-in-law, the distant relatives, the family friend. Come visit over the school holidays, meet your new siblings, your step-father.
The island that raises the children with its specific worldview. Values the community, doesn’t value honesty. Values the mother, doesn’t value the wife. Values wealth, doesn’t value not stealing. Values what people think, doesn’t value integrity.
It takes a village to raise a child. An entire island to raise ours. Aunty is here, Grandma is in the next village, uncle is in town. The children get passed around, wanted by all. The island village is strong. Conflicting values but with the same goal of raising the children with care. The island children are loved. They are the future.
Christine Mary Adolf is a perennial optimist at heart, Christine is enjoying this season of life immensely. She is the mother to three young multi-cultural children and this is by far her greatest blessing and joy. Christine loves being inspired, living a slow, intentional and simple life, and exploring. She is generally contemplative and looks for the sacred in the ordinary. Poetry has recently become a way for her to process life experiences and big emotions, as well as to express her creativity. She is learning how to be a better version of herself everyday and believes in beginning again. And again. She is based in Zanzibar, East Africa