As it was in the Beginning

By Tomla Ernestine Tatah Lukong

Childhood life is sometimes or even most of the time so fascinating to each one of us no matter the setting. It becomes even more fascinating when one attains adulthood, turns back and replays some of the episodes of the time. As it was in the Beginning is the bits and pieces of the author's childhood experience revisited and x-rayed side-by-side the present dispensation with an attempt to imagine what the future reserves for such past lives. Characterized by relative poverty and underdevelopment, life was worth living due to the socio-cultural and economic values embedded in the people. Presented with nostalgic entertainment, the book invites all and sundry to go back to their roots and tap all that can enhance individual and communal life as we embrace the challenges of the android generation. Chapter one is a scintillating opportunity for the African child of yesteryears to revisit their quest for an all organic and well balanced diet using food choices that the "modern" child would find taboo. It demonstrates how children contributed to sourcing natural foods for the family by harvesting Termites, Grasshoppers, wild Birds, Mushrooms, Berries and much more using individual/collective effort and with ambi-dexterity that a child of today (Andriod child) wouldn't master or even subscribe to. In chapter two, the reader is taken through an amazing journey of how masterful African children of yesterday collaborated with their parents to lead a rather healthy life of subsistence reaping from the agrarian economy in the village. Here, you witness the contribution of the child in fetching water over long distances in fragile and very limited containers and, treacherously fetching wood in in-hospitable\] environments, preparing local delicacies by themselves and braving weather elements gracefully. Chapter three is a tale of family bonding and intra / inter communal liaisons in which the oneness of the community helped raise children without distinction of whose child it was. The author takes you through healthful, exquisite and most valuable inter-generational child-bonding group plays, and the role of parents in dissuading children from excesses in ways that the current generations would find un-welcomingChapter four is a mouthful of the unfathomable contributions of the African child to enhancing the income capability of the family through cash crop farming, family thrift and loan ideas, etc, while chapter five concludes with the most valuable attribute of being African- the spirit of community. Here, the role of Traditional rulers, dance, folklore and the indispensable role of the true African child in the passage to adulthood through rituals and self-proven maturity is clearly demonstrated. "As it was in the Beginning", is therefore a must-read for people longing to re-live their childhood, direct their own off-springs towards ancestral values and ponder the future of the true African culture generations from today. Enjoy the ride

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B08F6RYJ9W
• ISBN13: 9798672840239
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"