I spent over a year living in a village in Zambia, Africa as a peace corps volunteer. This was one of my most transformative experiences that taught me new ways of life outside of the hustle and bustle of urban cities, such as my hometown, Philadelphia.
1. Family is government
In the village, the family is the direct source of government. The man of the house is responsible for maintaining, protecting, and building new places for the family to live. As they increase their size and have more children, the man of the house builds more homes, and clears more land for more crops. Everybody in the family has a role to play. In the morning, the mother comes home with babies on her back and firewood on her head. The girls are preparing food for the day and cleaning the house. The boys are building bricks and working in the field. Each meal is shared as a collective on one big plate. Each member of the family is relying on one another to do their part and maintaining order within the household.
2. Everybody is an entrepreneur
Everything in the village requires work. People are living off of the land and doing exactly what is necessary to thrive. The concept of having a job and working is very different than modern society here in America. What I find most intriguing is that everybody is typically an entrepreneur at the core when living in a village. Whether people open their own shops or choose to sell crops from their own farms, there is a self sufficient and entrepreneurial spirit at the core of work in the village.
3. Community is happiness
The roles people choose to participate in have a direct impact on their surroundings and local community. This is very different from big cities, where we are actually more disconnected than connected in my opinion. The teachers at a school in a village are responsible for teaching their neighbor’s children, and have a very close relationship with their families from church on the weekends. There is a common belief system in the village life that revolves around God, family, and the land. Because of this, everybody has a role to play. Everybody is extremely happy and free in the village. The community becomes one big family, thriving together, sharing land, under God.