Lessons from the family

Short personal Family history

My family is one of the smallest tribes in Cameroon, the Yezum trib. One day, my Grandpa told me about the history of our family. From what I can remember, our family started from my grand grandpa, MBE Abanda. the Yezum trib is originally from the east side of the country, but one day my grand grandpa, because he didn’t want to be involved in the quarrels that were opposing his two older brothers who were disputing over a piece of land, migrated to the center region of Cameroon with his wife in 1909. At that time,  in a Yezum family, all the decisions are taken by men, women opinions didn't count. nowadays things are totally different. women are treated equally as men. after installed in the center region, my grand grandpa decided to buy a  large portion of land. He built houses and created farms. Many of those houses and farms are still in a good state until today. After my grand grandpa passed away, my grandfather, Lujema who was the only male out of 6 children, inherited almost everything. In our family, the elderly are the ones who have the last words in all discussions. My grandpa was the one who draws the moral lines that everybody should follow even those who are married. I remember every child's duty every morning was to sweep the floor of each house and main courtyard of all my grandpa'ssisters. My Grandpa succeeded in impressed in the entire family a high sense of responsibility and dedication. Our family because having emigrated from the east side to the center of the country has usually be perceived as invaders and that caused us a lot of problems with our neighbors. My grandfather's peaceful and humble attitude has always permitted him to calm down much dispute with the other local tribs. 

The invisible culture

Dr. Nicki Lisa Cole in her article So What Is Culture, Exactly?, states “According to sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people share in common and that can be used to define them as a collective’’. The culture has a double aspect. There is, on one hand, the visible culture which usually refers to tangible artifacts that share a common meaning to a group of people. On the other hand, the unseen culture. It is the set of beliefs and practices that most of the time are written nowhere.  For example, I have noticed in the yezum trib, wearing a purple outfit during major ceremonies as funeral or marriage means that the person belongs to the royal family because only the king or his family can wear purple. The story behind that belief is that the purple dress was the favorite color of the first king of the Yezum trib and in order to please him and show him respect the Yezum population stopped progressively wearing purple.  

 

Globalization and Immigration

According to investopedia.com, “Globalization is a social, cultural, political, and legal phenomenon. Socially, it leads to greater interaction among various populations. Culturally, globalization represents the exchange of ideas, values, and artistic expression among cultures.” Immigration is the direct consequence of globalization. The new trends of immigration can be explained by the fact that people in some countries around the world desire better conditions of life or want to flee an oppressive political regime or simply want to live in a different culture. That movement of populations affects families positively as well as negatively. For the positive impact, e can say migration allows a family to reunite or to recreate itself. We have families that are multi-racial or multicultural. In the negative consequences, immigration can lead to the disappearance of some cultural values.

Transcultural adoption

The transcultural adoption is the act of becoming the parent of a child who is not from the same culture as you. For example, a US white adult adopting a child from Cameroon. In some cases, that type of child will eventually understand that his white Caucasian mom or dad is not his or her real parent, opening the door to several questions among them the question to know who he is. To that question is usually linked the desire to know “where am I from?”. In that case,I think the parent should do more than to just assimilate his child into his culture. he should make sure that at a certain moment of the child’s life, he visits where he is originally from.

Life perception

In Jeremiah 29: 11 God says "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Before the conversion to the Adventist faith of my Grand-father Lujema, our family was an animist family. Wikipedia defines animism as the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Even though pretty much all in our family has embraced the Christian values and way of life, this primitive thinking is still rooting the life perception of some of my uncles and aunts. For my part, I see everything based on and only on what my Adventist Christian faith carries as teaching. Therefore, concerning the very import questions of life as where I am from? My answer is in God’s word. I have been created by an awesome God who gives His beloved only son Christ for my salvation. Why am I on this planned? I am here to know God and to make God known to others through my lifestyle given by God in his word (Bible). What will happen to me when I died? I find the answer in the word of God: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” Rev 20:12

References;  Cole L. N. So What Is Culture, Exactly? / investopedia.com