OUR CULTURE BEING MUTILATED AND THROWN TO DOGS- DABUO ERIC WRITES...

Culture as we all understand is the way of life of a particular group of people living in a geographical area with the common believe of being from one ancestor and have common goals of maintaining peace, unity and solidarity.

Our culture defines our realities, that is to say our culture portrays whom we are and must therefore be held in high esteem. But unfortunately, this culture of ours has been "mutilated and thrown to dogs". Gone are the days where it was mandatory for every elderly person to inculcate into the young  the cultural values of their land. They did so in many ways

Firstly, *through storytelling.* Grandparents in those days used to gather the youth and tell them stories which helped them build their moral lives in the society. Beside the fact that these stories were sources of entertainment, they also   teach the young positive values as far as the norms and taboos of the land are concerned.

They also use to teach the young ones proverbs which helped them in their day to day's interactions. These proverbs were used for discussions in the midst of strangers and they also served as a sign of wit and intelligence on the sight of our people. It baffles me so much that our youth of today have chosen to ignore this blessing.

Beside these, the youth were also thought the history of their land. How their grandparents fought and conquered wars. What they put in place to triumph in their wars. They equally told them about their great warriors so as to inspire the youth to one day be like them. They were equally told about the various festivals and why they celebrated them. Are we not blessed to have had such great people on our land? 

The youth were equally thought art works as well as the use of herbal medicines. Art works such as curving, blacksmithing, pottery and among others were all thought. It was also the responsibility of every parent who is a herbalist to pass on that gift of healing with herbs to their offsprings. In so doing, they thought them the kinds of herbs to use and how to use them and to what disease they were to be used on.

Today as I write with pity on our today's youth, these chivalrous men are no more and as a result, we have turned down all which were passed onto us by our ancestors. The question I now ask myself is why?

A research conducted at Tumpaani FM on a program, " work and happiness" by *DJ Noble and DJ S2 ,* highlighted vividly the reasons why our today's youth have turned down our culture.

 *Modernity* is one of the reasons. Our land is bedeviled with modernity which compels us to turn our backs to our own ways of doing things. We now  see our ways of doing things to be barbaric, archaic and unscientific so we turn to the modern ways of doing things. Modernity has affected out dressings, mode of communication and other values regarded by our land. 

Gone are the days where parents could discipline their children by flogging them, today what do we see? If you beat a child who even belongs to you by consanguinity, that child has every right to take you to court to be sued. These inabilities of parents to discipline their own children makes our today's youth not to be disciplined and for that matter do not have regard for their culture.

 *Alcoholism* on the parts of parents is another reason our youth look down on our culture. some of our parents of today have taken alcohol in high esteem regarding less their parenthood responsibilities. How does a father or grandparent who is controlled by alcohol teaches a child to be morally upright? Because of this act of most parents, the youth become ignorant about the culture hence do not regard it.

Besides that, there is also the lack of interest by the youth to learn the culture of their land because of the technological advancement of today. Availability of various machines  makes the youth not to be willing to learn the culture of their land. It isn't surpricing that today many of the youth cannot farm, use the talking drums all because they are machines to do farming for them and to aid in communication.

It is therefore my plead on our elders to try as much as they can to pass on the small that they have learnt from their ancestors to our today's youth else some years to come our own culture is going to die off whilst we have foreign cultures. My fellow youth let's develop the interest for our culture because our culture defines whom we are. I wonder what will be of us in the near future if we fail to pick up the attitude of patronizing our own culture instead of using foreign culture.

Thank you.

DINDOBUO ERIC               

 

Dedicated to Tumpaani Fm and staff.