Don't Take Teddy Bears To Africa

Essential workers.

 We ‘civilized ‘ Africa for many reasons.

AFRICANS	EUROPEANS
Midwives delivered babies.	Hospital delivery.
The placenta was buried at home, in the yard to bond kids with their land.	Placenta is medical waste.
Plants from forests provided medicine for mother and baby.	Mothers bought medicine from the chemist/pharmacy.
Babies slept with mothers.	Babies slept alone in their cots, in their rooms.
Breastfeeding for six months or more.	Bottle feeding.
New mothers were surrounded by other women like mother-in-law, sister-in-law, midwife and grandmothers.	New mothers at home alone or learning from books.
New mothers in isolation away from husbands and house work.	New mother works, takes care of baby, husband, cooking and other chores.
Mothers covered babies in animal skins.	Pink clothes for girls, blue clothes for boys.
Babies crawled naked around the yard.	Colour-coded clothes for boys and girls.
Babies never missed mothers’ warmth because mothers carried them on their backs or slings.	Babies lose mother’s warmth at birth because they sleep alone, and travel in strollers/prams.
When babies grew up, they slept with other boys or girls on grass sleeping mats.	They slept with teddy bears in their own rooms.
When they grew up, they ate from the big plate the family used.	They ate alone from feeding chairs  and later their own plates.
When they grew up, they learned how to tend and milk cows, fetch water, harvest corn, cook, sweep and how to address elders.	They went to school to learn reading and writing. Mothers stayed home, waiting for 18 years, when they’ll leave home.

We had to take their land in order to ‘civilize’ them, and force them to face hardship European mothers knew so well.

Another ‘written podcast’ from Nonqaba waka Msimang.