On Senegal

A few years ago I was in my home office when I suddenly realized I was hearing the voices of children at play.  It was such a foreign experience I got up and went into the living room and looked out of the window in search of the source.  On the front lawn of a house diagonal to my own, someone was having a birthday party.  What I was hearing was coming from one of those big rubber jumpers.  What a rare and lovely sound.  It elicited a question: When was the last time I heard children playing?

Having recently returned from Senegal I was struck by the difference between  childhood in both worlds.  Children in Senegal may not have the material advantages of children in the US, but they are rich in social connection.  They are grounded in their understanding of their position in society.  Every morning I was greeted by the children of the household as they left for school in their uniforms and backpacks.  They went around to every adult in the room that opened to the outside and shook our hand, while accompanying that with the French expression: Ca va? (Loosely translated as, How are you? ) In the afternoon, when they returned, this was repeated.

I saw this behavior years ago when I was visiting Ghana: the respect for elders shown by children.  Never could you imagine them alluding to their parents’ sex life which is a common device in American sit-coms meant to engender twitters and the admiration for our children’s precociousness and wit. Never could you imagine a children putting their parents in their places by regarding them as having less wisdom and understanding than themselves.  Yes we have the manicured neighborhoods; we have the material but they have the wealth of human contact and the security of their place in their society. They are gifted with the ability to play freely in their neighborhoods.  They are gifted with an infancy largely spent attached to their mothers’ backs as she moves through her day.  

Over and over in Dakar, I saw children at play, I saw children caring for a younger sibling, or  playing near a parent visiting with friends or neighbors.  Everywhere,  social connection—even into the night.  Our children, in their bubble wrapped lives rarely play outside—alone or with neighborhood friends.  They generally don’t go to school or return home on their own.  They negotiate a very small world of cell phones and tech devices—which is no substitute for human interaction.  They have their play dates and organized activities.  School offers some opportunities for human to human interaction, but it’s not enough.

Yes.  We have material advantages.  But, we need the voices of children interacting with each other.  We need the sound of children playing.