Rather get to old age in Africa - and feel special!

African society is deeply religious. Christianity as well as Islam are the main religions accepted by Africans - They both exist in a specific form on the continent.-- they are overlaying the old African traditional beliefs. Religions have adapted to and mixed with traditional customs and practices and with local myths and beliefs. African people see nothing uncommon in worshiping the Christian God or Allah in their local church or mosk and then slaughter a goat to honor some angry ancestor and make him send the rain over the dry land; Africans mix into their prayers the figure of God with ancestral characters in their forms of spirits acting along with the living, just as God is supposed to do.
The Ancestors are in the African traditional beliefs as important as God -- but there is no competitive scaling or even the thought of that. They just are, all of them -- and guide the living through signs, benevolent help or punishments in well deserved cases. The Ancestors are part of the current period through their spiritual presence. In many African communities the dead are still buried under the houses of the living -- so they can communicate with them at all times, whenever communication and support is needed.
Current governments' policies of encouraging the use of designated cemeteries is met with resistance and local people still preserve the practice of burying their dead in their own yard. A house will be built over the place soon.When people grow old in Africa and die, they will join the ancestors and that is a good place to be,

People who grow old in Africa are perceived to be in closer communication with the Ancestors -- not surprisingly, as they are closer on their way to meet them. Death is not a definitive parting for Africans, it is only a moment, a stage in life after which the departed -- the passed on person -- keeps close to the loved ones, the members of the community. So, it is obvious that a wise person would like to keep the best relationship with those who soon part -- it is the best way to keep their good will for the future eternity.
When grow old, people take on the role of the protector in one's relationship with the Ancestors.

The spiritual world is ever present and never gets older in the African man's life. It affects many of his daily habits. The spirits constantly interact with the living and their good will is important for any African person's peace of mind. Every African child is growing up in this belief and progresses slowly towards old age by turn - to grow old in time. The awareness of this fact is a genuine feeling, strongly part of the African culture. It is not a mental exercise but an attitude that comes together with belonging to the African community. So, there are many reasons to respect old age - and here is the secret to the fully integrated value of respect for old aged people in the African tradition: the respect is not accorded to an individual, to a person that might be nor perfect or even wise as the old are supposed to be. In African culture the respect is for the old age itself - to grow old in Africa is a value as the person becomes a Symbol and ceases to be an individual. As an individual one might have weaknesses that can make sometimes respect to be denied for good reasons - but as a Symbol every old person represents the qualities of the status and becomes almost an abstract entity, a part in the chain that links generation to generation, one after the other.

People grow old in the African communities but they are far from sitting idle. They don't really get over the hill, as still have the most important role in decision making and keeping the extended family together. They never say: I'm getting too old for this! -- when it comes to advising when necessary.
In every community event, the old aged people have the most respected position -- they are greeted and seated personally.
Men and women of old age are asked for advice in important matters and their advice is considered. It is not a dictatorial situation -- younger people will make their own decisions in what they are concerned but they would seek and listen for the support of the elderly's wisdom. Uncles and Aunts are important when the situation requires representation and protection of the interest of a younger person in relation with another family or the chief or an employer --she or he would ask an elder to speak on behalf -- the representation is treated with respect by all those involved. The elder will serve as a warrant for both parties for good will and good faith. When a marriage is planed, the elder from both parties will deal with the process of negotiating the conditions of the union.

During the normal day to day life of the extended family and community, the elders accept responsibility for supervising the children, for cooking, cleaning, sometimes checking in at the cattle post. Every child is considered to be under the authority of any community member of old age -- and they can act as parents, scolding the mischievous child whenever it is the case.
The extended family usually lives in one compound -- a bigger area where individual dwellings are grouped. When young parents work the field or commute nowadays to the central areas of the region, old people will look after the children.
In fact, in African culture the young mothers were considered insufficiently prepared to take responsibility for the child -- not surprisingly if we think about the very young age when girls were married.
In modern African society there are many changes in living conditions but the old values and customary practices based on tradition are still accepted and upheld, with pride lately, as African people realize that old traditions are part of their identity.
Young people show respect to the elders naturally - by choice- and feel in no way infringed upon their own independence or personality by the formal requirements of behavior in interaction with the old people. People grow old simple and natural in Africa and no one questions the reason of this fact.

The respect shown by African to elders is extended to non African people too -- as it is given to the old age and not the individual.
I was of 47 years old when I came to Botswana-- and a person old enough to be entitled to all those signs of respect that African tradition would prescribe. The most that I enjoyed was when being caught by the police doing bad driving :speeding, ignoring the safety belt or other traffic rules; I always got away with being very nicely asked to be more careful in the future. In one instance there was a younger male friend with me on the passenger's seat, so the police spoke to him in order to avoid offending me, the driver. They told him that please take care of this old lady and make her observe the traffic rules.
I first felt a pinch of an offence -- why, in our Western civilization we do not even refer to aged people as "old". We found ways of avoiding the word -- as if it were something bad -- say senior, say aging, say anything else but the truth about the fact is that when we are over a certain age than we qualify for the term old. Well, those days I also had the same view on the word "old" and was a bit ruffled. Then an old lady but new friend of mine at the time, Mma Sechele, told me that being addressed by "old" is a matter of respect in African culture. Little did I really understand that time -- but I came a long way since.

I witnessed many times in the capital city Gaborone that elder people just stopped loud children on the road, obviously a stranger to them and scolded them for whatever real or perceived bad behavior The kids smiled guiltily and quietened for a second or so before they all forgot again about behaving like ideal children. However, I never noticed animosity or display of rebellious angry signs from their part. In Africa, old people that one does not even know would scold one and that's just a fact of life and everyone has to accept it with good nature.

Growing old brings wisdom and old people laugh too -- whether the jokes are about young or old age. Some jokes about the old age are as old as the people that are reading them -- or older. That is not preventing anyone to have a good time reading the old stories about old people.


Funny stories about senior peopleKeep it lighte about growing old -- the difference between the 70s vs now -- humorSenior and well jkoing

Old Age Stamina -- jokeEvery picture tells a story -- 29 pictures of old people65 years old bachelor decides to date "only" women of 25 after some failed relatioships with younger girls, too immature for fim

It is sad to mention that average life expectancy dropped drastically in Southern Africa due to the HIV/AIDS. To grow old in Africa became a miracle, besides being perceived as the traditional blessing. Development is bringing changes in social patterns in Africa, in some aspects quite drastically. That affects traditional customs too. However, there are African countries that have a vision to preserve the best of customary practices and traditional values: in Botswana BOTHO, the basic concept that keeps the values of respect for each other in a community alive has been declared the 6th National Principle -- together with Democracy, the first. Young people are also taught to be proud of what African heritage brings to their national identity and integrate local values with the global ones rather than exchange them for, as they learn about them. So young people learn to grow old with pride.

Modern African governments are offering social care for the elders - a concern that was left totally for the extended families in the past.
Modern lifestyle patterns are slowly affecting the old ones. We only can hope that respect for the old age will stay as long as people will still get old.