It Takes a Village

One of the cultural differences I noticed immediately was how South Africans commonly offer parents help with their children.  At first it caught me off guard.  Americans will help a stranger's child if the child is in danger or distress (lost his mom in the store, stuck on the jungle gym and needs help getting down).  South Africans especially black South Africans will help the parent and the child. Let me provide a few examples.  I was shopping with the kids and Jonah needed to go to the bathroom.  While in the restroom, the toilet attended helped Jonah adjust and button his pants.  I was holding Mira and before I even had a chance to try to help him, she was offering assistance.  My favorite example is when we were eating at one of our favorite restaurants. One of the servers, picked up Mira who was fussing so we could eat our meal in peace.  She then proceeded to walk Mira around the restaurant, introducing her to fellow staff,  and even dancing with her in a birthday drum line.  She held Mira for a good 20 minutes and for half of the time I couldn't even see them.   I consider myself to be fairly laid back with my children but I was even questioning for a second if it was safe to let a stranger walk away with my child.  I just figured that was the American in me.

                                                              Mira in the Drum Line