In essence, the child is the king of the village. When a child walks into the middle of a crowd, all attention goes to him or her as if to applaud an arrival long awaited. Without children, the world is a dead end and communities would not exist.
Children are the life-givers, the healers, the messengers of the ancestors.
Children are embraced, celebrated, and supported, for without them there would be emptiness in the hearts of all villagers. A child is valuable and irreplaceable, someone we cannot afford to lose. The world has embraced the truth that childhood shapes the women and men we are today. Because of this realization and deeper understanding, we have the ability to put a stop to destructive generational patterns and raise our sons and daughters with respect, self-esteem, and true commitment to their lives. In the Dagara tribe, we know we cannot have community without children, we cannot have children without community, and neither would exist without spirit.