African Family Solidarity: : Checking Excessive Dependency

The thread that runs through both events is greatly symbolic of society for which the family is the nucleus. The importance of the family was again highlighted when the Minister of women empowerment and the family, Professor Marie-Therese Abena Ondoa, went out to chair a public family buffet in Yaounde last 10 May. Some 1.300 attendees of the buffet gave a memorable meaning to the event. Her action underscored what many may be taking for granted with the concept of the family. Again, the Minister of Social Affairs, Pauline Irene Nguene, launched a four-month period to sensitise families on the care of their members, especially the disabled, last 7 May, 2024. All of those official outings point to the vital hub of society that the family holds.  
Africans have entertained their survival from time immemorial through family solidarity. In the early 1960s, a prominent African politician, scholar and fierce anti-colonial activist, President Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, burgeoned out a philosophical cum political ideology entitled “Ujamaa”. In that endeavor, Nyerere (lived 1922-1999) captured in Ujamaa a political definition of solidarity, which he slanted to Africa giving the whole continent a family twist. Africa is a family. No doubt, Ujamaa in Swahili is translated as familyhood or African socialism.
In Africa, man lives by man. This happens in a context where the African family deviates from the western sense of it notably father-mother-child. In the African sense of it, the family is much larger and embraces siblings (brother and sister), niblings (niece and nephew) and piblings (uncle and aunt). All of this lineage must interweave to function and survive. Hardly may any successful person claim self-sponsorship. It is the family that makes the person that makes the success. Family solidarity is the oil of the African engine that grinds to carry important aspects of African cultures and societies. Solidarity involves strong bonds among family members, mutual support, and a sense of responsibility towards one another. Solidarity remains a source of strength, wealth and support. 
But, is it a blind solidarity? Must persons forget themselves and live for others? Does solidarity have limits? Certainly, it cannot be the case. Unmeasured solidarity can lead to excessive dependency of lazy ones on the good will of hardworking others within the kinfolk. While keeping the family bonds, the promotion of individual independence must be encouraged among members. Affiliates of the family must be stimulated individually to be self-reliant and to take responsibility for their own lives. This can be done by supporting them in sharpening their skills, pursuing and sustaining their education as well as grabbing opportunities for personal growth.
Another value to uphold may be to set clearly defined boundaries within the family to ensure that individual needs are met without enabling excessive dependency. To facilitate this point, open communication about individual responsibilities and expectations must be established. And such a communication platform is best within family meetings and groupings.
Equally, self-sufficiency can be a value to encourage in the family alloying members to find solutions to their own problems and challenges before seeking help from others. In that way, individuals are empowered to take control of their lives and to make independent beneficial decisions.
Fostering a culture of reciprocity can also be of great import to the family to keep affluence for the good of one and the others. This aspect of life encourages family members to give back and support each other in times of need. In that way, the commonality can avert the counter-production of relying solely on one or a few individuals of the family for support.
Seeking counseling or professional help in case of excessive dependency is another way out for the family to wing out solutions to significant issues affecting the clique. That alloys for sufficient openness necessary to air out views, enable cohesion and promote out...