ABSTRACT
Children who grew up in rural Africa in the 1960s and 1970s recall with nostalgia those mornings when the town criers bang their gongs and sang to relay news to villagers. The beautiful sound of the gong and the town crier’s sweet voice aroused children to start getting ready for school. As morning breaks, children meet up with siblings and friends at the square to attend school. This is especially true of those who have to walk some distance crossing rivers, bushes, and sacred forests to get to school. In subSaharan Africa, most villages have their sacred forests. They are usually thick, where children believe wild animals inhabit and ghosts and native gods reside. Most children must have heard frightful folklores about sacred forests, making them afraid to cross those areas alone. Even if you are in the company of others, getting to these areas produces goose bumps and hair-raising experiences. The echoes of birds and other animals add to your feelings, cultural orientations, and spiritual development and knowledge. These experiences form their relationships with nature, community, family, teachers, spirits, God, gods, and authority fi gures. These values and experiences infl uence their choice of doing good or bad, serving your community, and respecting the natural order. The forests serve as sources of stable food (Alozie, 2005b).
