The Gabonese Family Unit

I've gotten a lot of questions about how a Gabonese family works. That's kind of difficult to answer, because families are unique, but I can give you a generic idea.

Assuming we have the full gamut of members, father, mother, brother, and sister, the latter two multiplied by whatever, the Gabonese family works thusly:

The father usually has a job. Weirdly enough, however, this does not make him the major breadwinner of the house. An average job around here pays about 500 francs, equivalent to about a dollar, per hour. That's not really enough to support a family, it's more supplemental income. That money, best case scenario, goes into clothing, maybe spices for cooking, house upkeep, that sort of stuff. Worst case scenario, the money turns into alcohol. I forget the figure, but the alcoholism rates in Gabon are scary.

The mother typically farms the family plantation, washes the clothes, takes care of the kids, sells whatever excess from the plantation, and cooks the food. Women around here are tough cookies. Their neck muscles are particular proof of that fact. Although here in Gabon they do occasionally do the traditional "carrying a basket on your head" thing, the more common method is to make the basket into a backpack of sorts, supported by a strap that goes around the woman's forehead. The basket, which is usually about two feet long and about a foot and a half in diameter, is filled with whatever they dug up at the plantation that day. Manioc root, a popular dish around here, has the density of soggy rubber, and it's entirely possible that that's all they harvested that day, which means those baskets can weigh as much as 50-60 pounds. They walk miles with those things strapped to their heads.

Another interesting culture difference is that the women here smoke pipes. Not men. It would be kind of weird if a man smoked a pipe here, in an equal and opposite fashion to America.

The kids can go to school around here. Often, however, it takes several years more than it would in America for a child to get through high school, either because they are needed to help around the house, or because they need to be held back.

Interesting anecdote, one time I saw a little girl who couldn't be more than 6, down by the river washing clothes. By herself. There was a man and a woman a ways off that could've been her father and mother, but I'm not sure. The little girl had an incredibly organized and methodical way of washing the clothes, it was fascinating to watch her work so quickly and efficiently. I would actually estimate her age at 4, maybe 5, but she'd be a small 5 year old.

Adding a part here- Grandparents- Treated with more respect than they are in America, less than in traditional Asia. Generally speaking. I think the Grandmas still work like crazy people. Not sure about the Grandpas, though I've seen grandpa aged men walking along the road with machetes, which suggests hard work.

Families live in a variety of house types, depending on income, financial wisdom, and other factors. The very wealthy live in wood-based houses, like we usually have in America. You must be wealthy to own a wood house because you must use expensive hardwoods, such as the African Padauk, or else your house will be eaten by termites. A fairly wealthy family would have a house made of cinder blocks, which stands up nicely to the weather. Depending on what's important to that family, it may be finished with stucco, or just left bare cinder blocks. Both work about the same, a stuccoed house just keeps a little bit more weather out, and makes the whole thing look nicer. A poor family would have a mud brick house. The mud here, however, is pretty much pure clay, so those are still not awful houses, but they don't really last very long, and the sticks that support those mud bricks are pretty easily eaten by termites.