There are no satellite dishes, modems and computers in her world. While urban elites cruise the information highways, the poor and the powerless of rural Africa hike along the same dirt road they have always known. But still they communicate. Even if global high-tech is a world away and electronic media are beyond their means, rural communities transmit their social and cultural heritage through a communication environment that existed long before sophisticated modern information technologies. African villages have held on to a wealth of indigenous knowledge firmly embedded in the traditional mores and talents of generations past.
Villagers generate and regenerate culture by weaving it into proverbs, rhythms and drum beats.
When the crops are in and the pace of life slows, there is time for cults and rites, for ancestor worship and rituals and for fun. Griots , storytellers and troubadours call on the villages. Puppeteers, theatre groups and women dancers perform. Drums pound through the long night. And in doing so they ensure the continuity of their culture.