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Assessing "It takes a village to raise a child"

Our first response to "It takes a village to raise a child" is, why village and not town? The truth surfaces when we look deep into our childhood days. Even though we have lived in towns all our lives, a short stint at a village would help you realize that a familiarity among village folk exists that is difficult establish among townsfolk.

We may have the blessings of being among immediate neighbors who were resettled from villages in our blocks of flats. The same cosy familiarity may exist, especially among the older folk. These older folk bring along the traditions of village living into the concrete jungle. They are the ones whose faces bear smiles until they suddenly find themselves faced with the truth that they do not live in a village anymore.

When I first handed my six-month old son to his second and last baby-sitter, also resettled from a village, I felt as if I had literally handed my son to a village to raise. Within a few months, the baby-sitter and family fell so madly in love with him that she took him in as her godson, and I became part of the village. Till today, seven months after she ceased to look after him while I worked, I still visit the extended village regularly, and that includes visiting siblings as well as the patriach and matriach of the extended village.

Who lives in a village? Its occupants include extended families, people from all walks of life, and fellow companions of all ages, the old and wise folk who hold life's treasures in their stories, neighbors and not forgetting all the non-human beings that exist. Imagine what a rich environment the child will be immersed in! He will be immersed in all experiences that his parents allow him to share with his neighbors!

Yet, think again. It may take a village to raise a child and fill him with all kinds of experiences but what will he turn out to be? There is always the battle of choice within, the debate of nature versus nurture and the individual within that makes the final decision as to how he will respond to the diversity of life around him. There are also the choices that the parents, as chief caregiver of the child, make that will open or close the doors to all these experiences for the child.

What are the advantages of having a village raise your child to you, your child and the rest of your family? If you were a hermit, you would be accountable only to yourself. However, living in a village means having yourself accountable to those

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