Africans in Canada: Blending Canadian and African Lifestyles?

Introduction

vii Introduction Book’s Driving Forces I write this book solely because of my concern for the future of children and social work departments that have enormous powers over the making or ruining of the future of children (whatever the definition attached). I talk of Africa and Canada specifically but I think the message applies around the globe. I write from the perspective of a child that has been through it and seen it all and would not want other children to have to go through what I have had to go through. No child should have to go through all what I went through simply because of some particular individual’s selective definition of family or child; a designation, moreover, that would be exclusively geared toward making readily available resources for educating children unavailable to some children. A child must not be considered a child by the parents only insofar as the child’s services are concerned but regarded not as a child when it comes to the education and other needs of that child. I was able to surmount some of these ill-conceived definitions and other road-blocking devices largely because of some inborn powers. Not every child has those. And, even in regard of the survival strategies I learnt or quickly developed, that capacity to learn and adapt too can never be the same with all children, as is amply evidenced in the numerous cases in the book. I also write from the viewpoint of a parent who is concerned about the way some parents are using children as mere means of acquiring revenue from or tools of punishing the other parent; and they persist in doing so to the total disregard of the future of said children who paradoxically do not even feature in their un-African and un-Canadian definition of family. Social work departments are also enjoined to ensure that, in addition to having the academic qualifications, people working for them do satisfy some basic minimum attributes incidental to what their job is all about. viii Family is defined variously by some experts as (1) a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family; or a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for: a single-parent family; (2) the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family; (3) the spouse and children of one person: We're taking the family on vacation next week; (4) any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: to marry into a socially prominent family; and (5) all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor.1In human context, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children. Anthropologists most generally classify family organization as matrilocal (a mother and her children); conjugal (a husband, his wife, and children; also called nuclear family); and consanguineal (also called an extended family) in which parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent's family.2 Two types of family units dominate in this book, namely, the nuclear that is predominant in Canada and other Western societies and the extended that is most prominent in Africa. This book’s story cuts across continents (Africa and North America) though being heavily set in Cameroon, yet, with far-flung consequences for and in Canada. Its whole essence is pitched on how children’s life and future are seriously affected by the way family (and marriage) would be defined especially by parents and other relations. The book’s “principles” are of general application although its story is personal and true, revolving around the author and his “family”. The story is worth the telling because of its potentials, inter alia, for motivating and helping many people who might learn from the author’s intriguing experiences. It is not so much about the story, captivating (with some parts of it perhaps unbelievable to Canadians) 1 See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/family. 2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family. ix as it is; but so much about the rare strategies that have aided author in surmounting obstacles (some being really life-threatening) and moving on in life. Most...