Moral Code Crisis 

I read your story Shades of Freedom in August Issue. In it is mention of the AU Youth Charter and the values it contains of protection of private life and protection of family. It got me thinking about our African culture. An ancient African proverb says it takes a whole village to raise a child. This in effect means that bringing up a child is also the responsibility of the immediate people outside the family – the village or the community at large. This proverb has much merit, as this system of elders sharing their experience, knowledge and wisdom with children other than their own was a very important part of traditional African society. If this was still in place today we would not have the situation where so many African children, be they "street children" or those from legitimate families, are beaten and sexually abused. And they are mainly abused by someone who knows them.Where is the message of the proverb now? How do we make the leap in one generation from the community being an extended family to all children to the same community raping and abusing the children? What went wrong and when? Do we blame globalization, the Internet or colonialization or do we take a long hard look at ourselves and our "modern" values? More importantly – how do we fix it? Culture is a dynamic force that has a core that adapts to the age it lives in. We have aspects of culture that are outdated and barbaric by today's standards of morality, yet many of these remain in place. Why then are aspects of culture that have deep positive influence on our youth abandoned in the face of the same moral code?

Angela Mubari

Zambia

Biz Tips Big Help

 I am enjoying your column on the business advice (Business-Ease) and have gained a lot of information. I am very interested in doing business with China. Often business people want to barge ahead and forget that we need to understand the culture of people. I made several mistakes with Chinese people and lost some business and after reading your column I can understand why! Please continue with this kind of business advice, as it is a big help to us small businesspeople here in Africa.

Bundi Misha

Botswana

Well done to Serilia Maata of Cameroon who wins August's best letter and a customized USB flash drive