Culture Shock - Random Childhood Memory

"The beauty of the  world lies in the diversity of its people" 

 - Unknown

My Dad was in the military so I am a military BRAT (Born, Raised And Trained). One common thing is that they move around a lot. 

Unlike the Navy that lets the family reside in a location while the military parent moved (I think), my Dad was in the Army, so we did move around a bit with him. For me, it meant I hardly kept childhood friends. As we were settling into a new location, our neighbours were moving out, or as our neighbours were settling in, we were moving out. No mobile phones and internet meant no keeping in touch. Home/land phone numbers and addresses changed too often to keep in touch over phone calls or snail mail.

With this moving around came change of schools - I went to three primary schools (I think my brother did four), but was fortunate to attend just one secondary school because it was boarding. Some holidays from school were spent in a different location where I would meet my packed suitcase because we had moved houses in the middle of a school term.

My last primary school and the one I "graduated" from was St. Louis Nursery and Primary school in Akure, Ondo State. It was a Catholic School, and had a Novitiate (training for reverend sisters). I loved it. I think I had even considered being a Reverend Sister then. LOL.

We had a Vice Principal who was very well endowed at the backside. I used to hear people call her "Mummy" and could not understand why. My first hypothesis was that all the people who called her mummy were her children, because in my child mind, why would you call a person mummy when she wasn't your mother? #Shocker

But then I noticed that it was both teachers and pupils who called her that. I wondered how she managed to have so many grown and young children in the school. Then I heard even more people call her Mummy. I revised my hypothesis to state that they called her that because her backside was very sufficient. I don't know how I made that connection, but it made sense that this large backside woman would have so many children.

It was only as I settled into the school that I got to understand that it was a cultural thing common among the Yorubas -  call an older woman/mother, mummy, whether you were related or not. It now made sense as I even saw it happening with my family friends. I was asked to call everyone older than me, even by a month, Aunty. I struggled with this o! I would mutter the 'Aunty' under my breath and say the name out loud, or I would just totally avoid calling them. If I was close enough, I would tap them and speak to them; if I wasn't, forget it. I cannot understand why it was such a big deal to me then sha.

On one of the very few times I went to the market, I remember seeing a woman go down on both her knees in the market to greet an older woman. Boy! Was I shocked! I was surprised that she would do so in a dirty market with no concern for her safety (people pushing her, etc). Now I know better. Haha.

Over to you - what culture shock did you have as a child, or some silly theory you thought of in your head that made sense then?

Amazing Jesz!

An Investment Banker who loves kids.