From Haitians history, it was taught by our elders that our ancestors came from Africa. This has been in my thoughts for a long period of time now. It can be said that this paper was an opportunity for me to expand my knowledge on this belief. Therefore, I decided that I would pick any African country. I happened to run into an African girl in York Cafeteria. I knew she might be African because I’m familiar with African accents. Hers sounded very similar. I decided to approach her, and introduce myself. I asked if she was African by any chance. She answered yes. She said her name was Aicha, and she was precisely from Cameroon, Central Africa. This fascinated me because it is a country that I have never heard about. I was excited to learn
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She explained that in order to differentiate themselves, individuals from each tribe have a birthmark on their body, but different from other tribes. For instance, when a child is born in Aicha’s tribe, that child will receive a traditional mark anywhere on her/his body. This mark usually looks like a letter x. This explains why when you look at Aicha, you see something you would think is a scar, but there are always stories behind every mystery. She had four scars on her face and, they were shaped like a cross. As she states, “No, these on my face are not just simple scars, they were given to me for a reason. They are part of me. My culture gave them to me for a reason and the most important one is that they helped shape the person I am today.” Those scars on her face represented the mark each individual from her tribe receive. As stated earlier, having these marks helps to differentiate between individuals. This is very crucial because she said that sometimes children get lost. The only way for them to know which tribe the kid belongs to is by looking at his/her mark. Aicha continued to intrigue me in many other ways. She speaks several languages which include English, French, …show more content…
In one of the articles that I read it is said that Cameroonians typically have large families with at least six children (Gall 2009). When I asked her if that was true, she confirmed it but then said that her parents don’t see it as such and neither her. They prefer a small family. Cameroonians males are the dominant figure. She precisely said that males were supposed to protect and financially support the family. As for females, they are seen as the caregivers. They are supposed to stay at home and take care of the family. Generally, men have higher status than women. Women are not seen as equal because the men are the one with the most income; the family depends on them. This is very common almost everywhere. In Haitian culture as well women are inferior to men. They are paid less if they work or, they are expected to stay home and take care of the family needs. In terms of marriage, they are allowed to marry outside of their tribes. They also have arranged marriage in the Cameroonian culture, and the groom is chosen by the grandfather since he has more
She explained that in order to differentiate themselves, individuals from each tribe have a birthmark on their body, but different from other tribes. For instance, when a child is born in Aicha’s tribe, that child will receive a traditional mark anywhere on her/his body. This mark usually looks like a letter x. This explains why when you look at Aicha, you see something you would think is a scar, but there are always stories behind every mystery. She had four scars on her face and, they were shaped like a cross. As she states, “No, these on my face are not just simple scars, they were given to me for a reason. They are part of me. My culture gave them to me for a reason and the most important one is that they helped shape the person I am today.” Those scars on her face represented the mark each individual from her tribe receive. As stated earlier, having these marks helps to differentiate between individuals. This is very crucial because she said that sometimes children get lost. The only way for them to know which tribe the kid belongs to is by looking at his/her mark. Aicha continued to intrigue me in many other ways. She speaks several languages which include English, French, …show more content…
In one of the articles that I read it is said that Cameroonians typically have large families with at least six children (Gall 2009). When I asked her if that was true, she confirmed it but then said that her parents don’t see it as such and neither her. They prefer a small family. Cameroonians males are the dominant figure. She precisely said that males were supposed to protect and financially support the family. As for females, they are seen as the caregivers. They are supposed to stay at home and take care of the family. Generally, men have higher status than women. Women are not seen as equal because the men are the one with the most income; the family depends on them. This is very common almost everywhere. In Haitian culture as well women are inferior to men. They are paid less if they work or, they are expected to stay home and take care of the family needs. In terms of marriage, they are allowed to marry outside of their tribes. They also have arranged marriage in the Cameroonian culture, and the groom is chosen by the grandfather since he has more