Cameroon
is one of those places where one may wonder, as kids grow up, what is their
lifestyle like?How do they spend their time after school with friends and
family. Well, I will tell you a bit about it,based on my experiences as a
child there. For a child not big enough to walk, it is very normal for your
mother to do all the house work and take you where ever she goes. Most
commonly, mothers will carry their child in a ‘sling’, which is really a large
piece of cloth that she’ll wrap around her, with the child on her back, tucked
away inside. When she starts crimping, she is able to leave you with your elder
brother or sister who is about five or six and go to fetch water or buy food
from the market. Sometimes, she might ask the neighbour to keep an eye on you when she is gone.
People
are not afraid to let their kids explore and go to places without them. When
the child starts school, the mother makes sure there is cooked food to take to
school and eat during lunch time. The first year, the mother can walk the kid
to school but as from the second year, most kids walk to school with other
friends from their neighbourhood.
It
is normal for a five year old, once they get home from school to fetch water or
firewood with his elder brother or sister who might be just seven or eight, so
that their mother will need that to prepare dinner. Some children have to bathe
in a nearby stream after school, as well as wash their school attire and fetch
water before going home. 