African fun and games

[XXPANTHAXX]

AFRICAN FUN AND GAMES

Games played in Africa: Certainly many Africa kids spend a lot more time working as part of their family and looking after siblings (especially girls) than there counterparts in the North, but there is some play as well. Here is a partial list -- the specific differs a little from place to place.

* Homemade toys from wood, straw, animal skins and bone, stones, found objects, etc.
* Boys primarily: Rolling hoops, rims, tires ("inkil" in Eritrea); drumming, soccer, basketball, volleyball, kickball, athletics, wrestling (Gambia), boxing (Ghana), bicycling; playing with trucks hand made from wood (palm), wire, tin cans and other found objects; play-dancing masks (Gambia); checkers (with variations), scrabble, parchisi; "aquilone" flying kites (Eritrea); "balabburo" coin toss (Eritrea); "arimando" marble race (Eritrea); "cucinetti" go carts (Eritrea); "kib-kib" hackey-sack (Eritrea); "ashakhakhat alem" "lawn darts" (Eritrea);
* Girls primarily: bicycling, kickball, jump rope, hopscotch (teley-teley in Eritrea); playing with dolls, often hand-made from wood, cloth, straw and found objects; clamping/kicking game that seems to be akin to rock/paper/scissor (West Africa); "jacks" with stones (no bouncing ball); "fiti fiti" squat jumping (Eritrea);
* Boys and girls: Hide-and-seek ("Pero" in Yoruba, "Chirchir Abede" in Tigrinya); marbles (not always with marbles; nuts, seeds, stones and dried fruit); dance, singing and music (the instruments vary by region, but various homemade designs of drums, balaphones and stringed instruments (guitars and harps) - some made with tin cans - are common);
* Everyone: board game with 10 or 12 compartments, played with seeds or stone -- popularized by Disney as mankala, it is an old game, with real names, played across the continent. Traditional names for it are: gbo walo (Bassa), ma kpo (Mano), tay gbo knongi (Gbandi), mana (Kpelle), wrah (Kru), owari (Twi), ayo (Yoruba), aju (Ewe), wori (Malinke), wosley (Ivory Coast), owela (Oshiwambo), mweso (Luganda), soni (Usambara), bao (Chichawe), Tsoro (Shona), Isafuba (Ndebele)
* Childhood Games of Yesterday (Eritrea)

[Sourakhata]

I remember we used to roam in the streets all day long in search for a gigantic truck tyre (very difficult to find back then), then we would go in the neighborhood looking for the highest & most sloping street to climb at the top of it all of us pushing the heavy tyre up the slop scratching our hands with it because the outside being all worn-out.

Once at the top we would enter & huddle inside the empty tyre (sometimes two of us at the same time) and hurtle down the street like crazy!!

It's the most thrilling sensations I've ever felt as a lil' boy, it has never left my memory!
I reminisce my grandmother & aunts used to scream at me for me not to play at this dangerous game! Often we hurt ourselves but always do it again!

Retrospectively, if you ask me to reiterate this game as a grown up, I doubt i'll be bold enough to dare trying it again!

Afrikan children are so fearless! So young but so strong!

[Pragmatic]

What about them wooden spindles, and trying to balance on them while walking. How did they end up in the "hood"???

Peace

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