Report of the Meeting of the Kenya Proverbs Committee Nairobi, Kenya, 25 September 2004
Present:
Absent with apologies
The meeting started at 10.12 a.m. All the students are third year students at Hekima College. After self-introductions and conveying of apologies from Evans Nyakundi, Joseph introduced the meeting by circulating copies of the Afriprov homepage which formed the basis of his presentation. He also gave copies of the current proverb of the month (September, 2004) which he used to illustrate the three paragraph format that the proverb of the month takes. After going through all the features of the website homepage, Joseph elaborated on the utility of the website especially for students writing their term papers especially on African studies as well as other researchers interested in African culture. He also said we have received many requests from many organizations like newspapers and websites from all over the world on the use of materials from our website. He said that the African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Website www.afriprov.org has an open policy on the use of these materials from its web pages as long as we are notified and acknowledged.
The participants said that the website would especially be useful to students at Hekima in their first year where such courses are concentrated. Joseph asked them the best way to promote the website among those students as well as other students at Hekima. Marcelin Mugabe said he will review the website for the next issue of Hekima Review after consultation with the editorial board of the journal to enable the Hekima academic and student community get exposed to the website.
The participants also gave general view on the status of proverbs research in their countries. Joseph said that in Kenya there has been fair work done on proverbs collection with proverbs from the big ethnic communities being published. He also said that the African Proverbs Project has facilitated a lot in the collection of proverbs in endangered languages in the country and has helped in the collections of Gusii, Bukusu, Kuria (also spoken to Tanzania) proverbs. He also said a good number has been collected in Tanzania through Africa Proverbs Project and all this work is deposited at the Hekima College Library and other centres in Nairobi like the Urban Ministry Serving God (UMSG) Resource Centre and the Kenya Oral Literature Association at the Department of Literature, University of Nairobi. Joseph said that because relatively more work has focused on East Africa, we are trying to promote contributions from other parts of Africa. In the light of this he asked the others present to use their contacts from other parts of Africa and encourage contributions.
Jean Kubanabantu from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said there is also a fair number of collections from DRC through there are also some small ethnic communities where no collections exist. Mercellin Mugabe from Rwanda said a lot of collections have been done and published and some of the publications can be found at Hekima. Nirima Rakotosolofo from Madagascar also said there have been many collections and publications from his part of Africa.
Joseph asked the three students to pick any one proverb from their country and write proverbs of the month and they will be posted to the website. The participants also exchanged contacts to be used for future meetings probably before they graduate from Hekima in May 2005.
The meeting ended at 11.28 a.m.
Report of the Meeting of the Kenya Proverbs Committee Nairobi, Kenya, 2 May 2003
Present:
He said that there are many proverbs in Kirundi that can be used to analyze and describe the situation in Burundi today. Using one specific proverb -- Where there is peace, a billhook or a sickle can be used to shave your beard or cut your hair -- he analyzed the theme of peace, arguing that during the time conflict wonders can happen. He also gave biblical parallels for the same proverb like “with God all things are possible” and “it easier for the camel to enter the through the eye of the needle than a rich man entering the kingdom of God.” He said that they could be used to address external as well as internal conflicts in a country -- in the case of Burundi, the strained relations between the Hutu and the Tutsi communities. Therefore he said the proverb can be used by people as they reflect on the tragedies of war by using the proverb to explain the need for peace.
He said he is still working on the other proverbs and intends to collect, translate them into English and Kiswahili and offer biblical parallels for each of the proverb. Then he will arrange them thematically. He said he would be finished with his booklet of Kirundi proverbs by July 2003. He is also working on the proverb above to be posted as the African Proverb of the Month in the website www.afriprov.org. Rev Healey scheduled the proverb for the month of September when the world will be commemorating the tragedies of the 11September 2001 when the twin towers in New York were attacked by terrorists.
He also said the most important and quite often the most ignored characteristic of proverbs today is their educational and teaching value. He said that proverbs can be interpreted and bring out enriching advice and teachings. He said that they could be used in explaining daily human life experiences or personal witness. He also said that Gusii proverbs could be used to capture the history and culture of the community, two aspects that are being threatened by interaction with international, regional or national languages. Hence he said that because of the oral nature of stories, writing them could preserve them. He also pointed out that Gusii stories have many biblical parallels.
He said he hope to engage in a project where he will collect stories from the Gusii community and add their biblical parallels. He said the product of the research would be a booklet that will be produced with any available grant and his own financial possibilities and therefore will cover as many stories as possible given the funds at his disposal.
The group agreed that the story have to follow the format that was agreed in previous meetings as follows:
Elizabeth Kuria said that she had received feedback following the review of her booklet on the www.afriprov.org review page, one from Tanzania about the collection and the other from the United States with the person requesting more Luhya proverbs. She also said that she had an opportunity to share some of the proverbs on www.afriprov.org during the Kenyatta University cultural week early this year.
She proposed on another project whereby she is to examine the themes of time management and work ethics in Luhya proverbs. One the one hand she wants to reveal the African conception of time, i.e. how they conceptualize the issue of time and on the other hand relate how the issue of time management is related to work ethics. She said that is widespread mismanagement of time today and hopes to reveal what the Luhya proverbs say about this.
Other characteristic he observed was that Tharaka proverbs are very good in preservation of the Tharaka language because they use very archaic language which is not common with today Tharaka speakers. Hence he said proverbs can act as a reservoir or archive for language and consequently, they could be used in reconstructing the history and the culture of the Tharaka people.
He also observed that Kitharaka proverbs are very short and look very simple. Mainly, he said they are three word proverbs and this is significant in that they help people in remembering them.
Lastly he observed that there is a predominance of the male voice in the proverbs hence perpetuating the male perspective. He used this characteristic in arguing that proverbs today can be used in analyzing modern development issues and perceptions. He said many gender issues like prejudice against women and the girl child could be addressed by examining the proverbs. He argued that analysis of development should be the concern of the economist, political scientist, sociologist, and cultural scholar.
He said that now that he has collected a good number of proverbs, he is going to start translating them and offer biblical parallels and then hand over in a booklet.
He also said that the funds available were for the whole of Africa but Kenya has benefited more than other countries and there is a need to focus on other countries now. He noted that Jean’s Kirundi proverb was a good example of reaching out to other countries. He therefore suggested that the projects suggested by Evans, Monica and Elizabeth have to be put on hold until funding for them is found. He asked the Kenya Proverbs Committee to agree on how the projects can be queued and funded as funds become available later.
The meeting ended at 5.35 p.m. after prayers.
Report of the Meeting of the Kenya Proverbs Committee, Nairobi, Kenya, 22 March 2003
Present:
The meeting started at 10:26 a.m. Joseph introduced the meeting by giving a highlight of the issues he and Rev. Joe Healey discussed over the telephone regarding the meeting on the 22nd February 2003. Some of the highlights were:
The following matters arose out of the above issues.
It was felt that if these proposals were accepted, different ways to disseminate the finding of these studies and collections should be found. Joseph suggested one means of dissemination be the meetings/workshops and that the final and complete articles be posted on the afriprov website as e-(electronic) proverb articles. He said other people have done such articles such Wolfgang Mieder in Deproverbio, an electronic proverb journal. It was also suggested that such articles or collection of stories must be thematic and analyzed as such.
The committee came up with general guidelines on the structure or format of such articles or collections as follows:
The committee asked Joseph to communicate with Father Joe Healey and UMSG confirming on an appropriate date for a meeting at the UMSG in either April or May. The agenda of the meeting would be
The meeting ended at exactly 12 noon.
Report of the Meeting of the Kenya Proverbs Committee Nairobi, Kenya, 22 February 2003
Present:
Apologies:
The meeting started at 10.08 a.m. Joseph introduced the meeting and said that we had met to discuss how we can go about approving projects related to the collection and research on African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories. Dr. Wanjohi and Prof. Monica Mweseli suggested that it was first important to discuss and set some guidelines which were to be followed whenever anybody requested funds to collect and research African proverbs. This was seen as a better way to formalize the way small grants were given, given past experiences when some people were given grants and stayed a long time without finishing the projects (usually 100 proverbs in a local African language) or without finishing communicating on the progress he or she was making or the difficulties encountered.
Joseph asked for the period after which one is supposed to hand back the report of his or her research. Evans suggested that one should be able to conduct his or her research and give back the report in three months. However, Dr. Wanjohi felt that three months might not be enough and suggested four months which the group found to be okay. However, it was said if one not able to finish with the four months, he should let Joseph what was happening.
Mweseli, Evans Nyakundi and Wanjohi suggested that US $400 was not enough and that the sponsors be asked to increase the grant to US $500 because of the travel costs in going to collect the proverbs upcountry and the production costs of the report including typesetting, photocopying and translations.
Wanjohi suggested that all the grant should not be given at one go, but rather in installments. Monica suggested three installments but the group decided that since this was not a big project, it be paid in two installments: one installment at the beginning of the project that constitutes two thirds of the entire amount and the last third at the submission of the project. Wanjohi and Mweseli suggested that Joe Healey be asked if it is possible to collect other genres of oral literature like riddles, stories, etc. Dr. Wanjohi and Monica felt that it was good to have a subcommittee to deal with the task of approving proverbs collection. Wanjohi said this subcommittee would help in approving proposals, making sure that the procedures are followed and tracking down the all ready approved projects to make sure that the are done and submitted in time.
The following were proposed to constitute this committee:
The coordinators in conjunction with secretary are to organize and call meetings. It was also suggested that the group organize quarterly meetings at the UMSG (Urban Ministries Serving God) Office at which those with research reports and papers are to present. It was said that the first meeting is to start in the second quarter between April-June. The committee above was to meet for a second time on 22 March 2003.
On the approval of Jeans and Evans Projects, Monica suggested that since the group had not seen the proposals they should be given copies of the proposals and approve them on 22 March 2003. Dr. Wanjohi asked that they should continue their work even if they will have finished.
The meeting ended at 11:40 a.m.
Report of the Meeting of People Interested in African Proverbs
Urban Ministry Support Group Office, Nairobi, Kenya
23 August, 2002
Present:
Apologies:
Presentations:
The meeting started at 2.30 p.m.
Update of Website: Joseph Kariuki giving the following update from the moderator of African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Website, Rev. Joe Healey:1. Steadily we are increasing the amount and variety of material on our website so that presently there are the following number of entries/references:
2. Two features that will be ready in the next month are: posting the first e-book of African proverbs on our website and the African Proverbs Calendar 2003 online.
The "Search" feature is very useful in finding proverbs, sayings and stories that you want quickly.
The moderator quoted an African anthropologist who has written that the core or central African value is "participation." He said that this applies to our website www.afriprov.org as well. We depend on interested people to continue to send in African Proverbs in the three-paragraph format for the "African Proverb of the Month" (such as the Bassa, Liberia Proverb being used for August, 2002) on our website as well as other ideas/suggestions for expanding and improving our website.
Kariuki encouraged the participants to let tell people about the website and even contribute to it. He also let the participants know that as we approach next month when the world will be remembering the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, the African proverbs website will also be remembering that our first Afriprov meeting on the same day four years ago in 1998. He noted that as we remember our first meeting (whose minutes are posted to the website) there have been a number of contributions on peace, etc. that are relevant to the first commemoration of the 11 September attack. He singled out an article by Gerald Wanjohi that analyses the aftermath of the attack using Kikuyu proverbs, the July, 2001 proverb of the month (which also appears as the September Proverb in the 2002 Afriprov Calendar) and the November 2001 proverb of the month among many others. He asked the participants to encourage their friends and other people to contribute material to the website.
Contemporary Nairobi sayings: Kariuki gave a report on the work he has been doing, namely collecting contemporary Nairobi sayings. In his report he said that traditional proverbs are not very much used in the city citing two reasons. First, he said that it is because of the multi-ethnic composition of the city with almost all the 42 Kenyan ethnic language communities represented. Second, he said that this was because of modernity where many urban dwellers have been influenced by Western values. He singled out the youth who are influenced very much by the Western media like music, novels, books, cinema and currently the Internet.
He said that most of the sayings that are found in the city are mainly coined by the youth and mainly these new sayings reflect the youth worldview in the urban setting. He said he has been collecting the sayings posted on matatus (the taxi-cabs that are the preferred means of transport), mini shops that are run by youth and also by listening to music especially the new crop of hip hop music that is currently in vogue in Nairobi which uses some of the most common expressions of African youth.
He also noted that just like traditional proverbs are associated with the native language of the users, Nairobi sayings have their own language sheng which is the language of the youth of Nairobi. Sheng language was coined by the youth of the city as a result of the failure to communicate in any of their different ethnic languages. The language is therefore of blend of various languages such as English, Swahili and other Kenyan languages with Swahili being the main donor of words. He said that from his research he found some of the sayings appear in sheng. He noted that Sheng language has also found its way in Kenya’s schools system with students using sheng phrases as Swahili expressions in Swahili essay composition exams. He also noted that the new language has brought about communication problems between parents and their children as children continue to use this language which is “Greek” (that is, “foreign”) to the parents.
Comments from the participants centered on differentiating between “proverbs” and “sayings”. They were agreed that it is quite challenging to tell what a “saying” is particularly because it is a term that is also used to define a proverb. They however agreed that the term “saying” is general word for various proverbial expressions. They also agreed that most proverbs are didactic because of the underlying moral lesson.
Explaining a proverb: Evans Nyakundi gave an exposition on a Kisii proverb that gives counsel to the elders when judging cases. The proverb, mangana amoche ongareka yachiere ngora, urges elders who are involved in resolving jealousy cases in homes (society) and are somehow party to the dispute should withdraw from being judges. He said that traditional Kisii society was polygamous and so a man’s home had many wives who quite often developed disputes of jealousy among themselves. The proverbs thus urged men who were elders to adjudicate in the case through soul searching and taking time to consider if it was right that they could be part of the jury.
He said that this proverb is very much applicable to the current Kenya situation where ethnic consciousness is rife and communities are jealous of each other. He said that leaders tend to be referees, players and spectators at the same time. Participants in the meeting observed that there are many traditional proverbs from various African communities related to the omugaka, Kisii for “arbitrators.” Some proverbs advise elders on how to conduct themselves in arbitration of cases. Several Kikuyu proverbs were quoted:
One
elder can not arbitrate in a case
The
case of the good a person should be treated just like the case of a bad person
You
need several elders to preside over a case.
Dr. Wanjohi observed that in Kikuyu society the principle of presumption of innocence until proved guilty was very much applied in the Kikuyu traditional court system. He also said that the court system was democratic and that there were proverbs that acted as an ethical code of conduct for wazee (“elders”) or judges.
Analyzing a radio satirist: Dr. Wanjohi’s presentation was on how a Kikuyu radio artist uses literary style and proverbs in entertaining and educating the radio audience. The artist, Githingithia (Fred Maina) runs a satiric program on Kameme 101.1 FM, radio station every Monday to Friday. Dr. Wanjohi singled the satiric story of Wednesday, 21st August, 2002. The story title was the English proverb, A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The story, narrated in the Kikuyu language, went like this:
During the colonial period in Kenya there were three men Kioi, Githogori and Kaminju who thought they knew everything. They decided to go to adult education classes to learn English. When they went to the school they carried with them books and pencils and put them on a table. When the tutor came he asked them, “Who put these items here?” They said in Kikuyu ni ithuii atatu. The tutor told them that to say this in English they should say we three. They learned these words and went home. The following day the tutor found they had sharpened their pencils very badly “like sugarcanes” and asked them, “What did you use to sharpen the pencils?” They said in Kikuyu na banga. He told them that to say this in English they should say with a panga or knife. They went home and came back the following day. But the tutor told them that he would not teach them until they come back with school fees, that the classes were not free. He sent them away and told them if they were asked why they were sent away they should say it was because of money.
As they walked home
they feared that they might forget what they had learned so they decided to
assign the three phrases they had learnt so far -- we three, with a panga or
knife and because of money -- to
the three of them respectively, that is, to Kioi, Githogori and Kaminju. As they were going home they came upon a man
who had just been killed so they started looking around the scene. As they were looking around a colonial
policeman arrived in a car, saw the dead man and asked, “Who killed him?” Kioi replied, “We three.” The policeman
asked, “With what?” Githogori replied,
“With a panga or knife.” The policeman asked further, “Why?” Kaminju replied, “Because of money.” Now the three Kikuyu men thought that they
knew English quite well and were eager and happy to speak with a white man. But they were immediately handcuffed and
landed in jail. So the English proverb,
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Dr. Wanjohi, in analyzing the story and the way it is rendered in Kikuyu on the radio, said that Githingithia may not know that the story has all the literary properties of a piece of art such as plot, characters and unity in plot. He also said that it was a “harmless wit/humor,” yet it makes someone laugh at the predicament of some unknowing characters. One of the general criticisms of the stories of this artist is that the way he moralizes on the story is not the best. He should leave the listeners to draw the moral of the stories the way they understand them. Wanjohi said that interpreting imposes a personal understanding of the story or proverb on other people. He said that is the reason that even in his collection of proverbs he tries as much as possible to render the literal translation rather than interpreting the proverbs because interpreting would only give his own version of the way he understands the proverb.
Joseph Kariuki (Secretary, Kenya Proverbs
Committee)
Short Report of African Proverbs Meeting held on Friday, 26th April 2002.
Present:
Rev. Joe Healey
Thomas Ocheing
Evans Nyakundi
Mike Koski
Apologies:
Joseph Kariuki
The meeting started at 3:10 p.m.
Those present mainly discussed Evans Nyakundi’s presentation on Gusii, Kenya proverbs. Evans said that some of the influences in the use of proverbs are the background of the individual, education, and environment. He explained that when a child is growing up (s)he is exposed to different values that exist at different stages of the child’s development. He said that every stage of the child development is shaped by different values of proverbs that have religious, social, moral and philosophical values.
He used the example of the Gusii proverb, The trails of the cow that is troublesome continues to persist in the calves, that has religious and generational values. This scenario presented by this proverb captures a human being’s own experience, that man or woman is compared to the cow in the proverb. A scriptural parallel of this proverb is found in John 8: 44.
According to the Gusii people the traditional values of the Gusii proverbs were very useful in making decisions. For instance, elderly men in the traditional set up were seen as the custodians of wisdom and regarded as the arbiters of social values. The use of proverbs often differentiated the young and the old. Today this aspect in the Christian religion can be equated to the knowledge and wisdom of the Bible that differentiates between young and mature believers. Therefore the values and knowledge of proverbs in the past like the value and knowledge of the Bible today are specific to age.
Proverbs provide us a unique way of communicating that is quite selective. The use of them is dependent on the depth of meaning and experience in using them. Some are very complex and difficult to comprehend since their meaning is obscure, but to elders who are used to them they serve as shelter from which to hide while communicating with the ordinary people.
Other discussants in this session asked a number of questions:
The four participants also talked about the ‘2003 African Proverbs Calendar." They said that it is not good to delay its production because some organisations have already begun producing their 2003 calendars. Rev. Joe Healey read out the 12 proverbs that were used in the 2002 calendar and from the 34 others that remained, they began selecting the 12 proverbs to be used in the forthcoming calendar. They chose 10 proverbs from 10 different African countries. They set themes with which the appropriate proverbs could go. The themes are celebrated in the calendar year annually. Some the themes selected are: Equality, mission spirit, suffering/self denial, education, hospitality, patience/endurance and joy/celebration. The main difficult in this exercise was finding specific proverbs that have not already been used to fit certain themes.
The meeting ended at 5.10 p.m.
Meeting of People Interested in African Proverbs (organized by the Kenya Proverbs Committee) at the Urban Ministries Support Group (UMSG) Office
Nairobi, Kenya
15 March, 2002
The agenda for the meeting was presentation and discussions of reports/interests/experiences on proverbs.
Participants Present
Presentations.
1. Proverbs and nutrition.
Dr. Kuria presented on her on going research on proverbs, feeding and nutrition basing them on Bukusu (Kenya) proverbs and Kikuyu (Kenya) proverbs and the Bible parallels. She said that the Bible has a lot message on food and good feeding. She said she has collected more than 90 proverbs from the Bukusu community related to food and nutrition and that she had some difficulties with Kikuyu proverbs given that she is not a native speaker of the language, having learnt it through her marriage to a Kikuyu. She said she is to consult a book on Kikuyu proverbs, Under One Roof: Kikuyu Proverbs Consolidated by Dr. Wanjohi.
She said she wants to look for contemporary relevance of proverbs on nutrition and good feeding on various themes. She said that she will be looking for biblical parallels to the proverbs she is collecting because she has realized that the Bible has a lot of message related to greediness, meat (consumption of meat) and blood.
Using one Kikuyu proverb she has used, Mwana mwaga no nda (A good child is the stomach) she explained how proverbs could be used to convey information about the need to have good nutrition. She said that the proverb say that if the one feeds well one will have a good state of mental and body health. She said in contemporary times the relevance of that proverb is that if one is not well fed, one will get malnutrition and therefore perhaps may have other effects like low concentration of vision.
She said proverbs have messages that allude directly to food and other not related. She said for instance that for instance that the Kikuyu proverb Ngwaci ni ngwaci (A sweet potato is just a sweet potato) while it is about food, sweet potatoes being food, its meaning does not refer to food. It means going for the truth or "calling a spade a spade"
She said her main problem is on translation especially to Swahili and Kikuyu but said she will contact people with good proficiency in the two languages.
The discussion on her presentation focused on how its application can be used in preaching. It was said that it good especially that nowadays there is the need for preacher not to preach abstracts but instead have an all round preaching covering the on the mind, body and soul. She said that present teaching tends to focus more on matters spiritual and forget about body
2. Contemporary application of proverbs.
Rev Joe Healey gave a talk on "The Relevancy of African Proverbs in Today’s World." In the background to his talk he said that there are all kinds of reactions and responses to the value and usefulness of African Proverbs. He quoted a recent message to the African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories E-mail Discussion list that referred to African proverbs as "bland". He said other people refer to proverbs as old-fashioned, out of date, a relic of the past, quaint expressions that are used to reinforce stereotypes, etc.
H said however that African proverbs continue to find new meanings and new life in contemporary contexts. He used four examples to illustrate his case.
(i) He said a popular African proverb, When elephant fight the grass gets hurt (Swahili, East Africa). The proverb was used some years ago by Julius Nyerere, then president of Tanzania in a speech at the United Nations in New York. The Zairian Ambassador to the Great Britain used the same proverb to talk to a group of missionaries of African (White Fathers) in London. The meaning was the same: In the cold war between the then two great super powers-- the Unites States and Russia--it is the poor third world countries such as those in Africa who suffered and were victimized. The same proverb was used about Somalia in 1992-1994: When the local warlords fight for power, it’s the local Somali people who suffer and go with of food. The proverb continues to be used regularly to describe local officials and leaders whose disputes and divisions end up hurting innocent and powerless people. There are many versions of this proverb in Bantu languages such as When two bulls fight the grass gets hurt (Kuria, Kenya/Tanzania and Ngoreme, Tanzania), but they all mean the same thing he said.
(ii) He also used a well-known Amharic (Ethiopian) proverb, When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. The other version is Enough spider webs would together can stop a lion. the Amharic Ethnic Group in Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia use this proverb in many different situations to emphasize the value, importance, power and strength of unity. Individually a person is weak, but working together people are very strong. For example, if ordinary people work together they can overcome an unpopular leader like a dictator. A similar proverb is when they work together strings of a bark can tie up an elephant (Oromo, Ethiopia). In February 2002 Chaz Maviyane-Davies, one of Zimbabwe’s outstanding graphic artists, used the proverb as a powerful graphic image in his Portal of Truth series as an E-mail File Attachment and on the Internet before the National elections in Zimbabwe. The message is that if the leaders of the opposition political parties unite, they can overcome (that is, win an election) the incumbent leaders. The proverbs are connected to the popular saying: Unity is strength, division is weakness.
(iii) Using a popular Swahili proverb, Heri pazia kuliko bendera, whose good English translation is Better a curtain hanging motionless that a flag blowing in the wind Rev. Healey said the proverb has been used for many years and today a new understanding has come in the AIDS education and awareness. The proverb is now used especially to caution the young people to stay with one partner (the one curtain in the house) rather than "play around" with the many partners (like a flag blowing to and fro).
(iv) Healey also quoted a paper "Gikuyu Oral Literature and the Attacks in the USA in September, 2001" by Dr. Gerald J Wanjohi, published in African Scribe an Internet magazine (January, 2002). In this article Dr. Wanjohi states: " I would like to reflect on this tragic event using Gikuyu oral literature as a guide. This tradition has many proverbs relating to war, peace, and dialogue. We can therefore expect these proverbs to teach us something about the conduct of the Moslem fundamentalists suicide bombers of the World Trade Centre in New York, of the Pentagon in Washington, also about the retaliatory acts of the American government against the Afghanistan."
In the article Dr. Wanjohi uses quotes Kikuyu proverbs and applies them to the preparation for the bombing, and the course of the war on terrorism that followed. Among the Gikuyu proverbs that he quotes, capturing the themes of wars, peace and dialogue are:
a. Mbaara ti ucuru.(War is not porridge)
b. Hinya ngugunaga.(Use of force/strength avails nothing)
c. Mwirihiria ni we muuru.(The one who takes revenge is the evil)
d. Mwaki nduhoragio na mwaki.(Fire is not put out by fire)
e. Ma ndithamaga mukaro wayo. (Truth never changes its course)
3. Recent Anecdotes:
Using anecdotes, on his recent experiences and observations, Dr. Wanjohi related on issues of interpretation, contextualisation and use of proverbs in the contemporary times.
First he related the recent outcome of the Zimbabwe elections using Kikuyu proverbs. He argued that the incumbent president won because, kahiga gakuru gatiagararagwo ni maai, an old stone (the incumbent with all his experience) is not passed over by the water or an old stone stays above the water.
He also related how at a restaurant recently, a waiter insisted to him to finish his food in the plate. Thinking over the whole scenario, he decided to end the war of wit with the waiter with another Kikuyu proverb, Kuria muno ni kworia nda, meaning over eating spoils the stomach.
Thirdly, he related how they discussed with a medical microbiologist about his [Wanjohi’s] recent book on proverbs, Under One Roof: Kikuyu proverbs Consolidated. The microbiologist wanted to know why Wanjohi never interpreted the proverbs in the book. The answer to this question came when their talk branched off to a talk on why people these days are not bearing many children, once again Dr. Wanjohi saying that a Kikuyu proverb says, Ciana nyingi, mbirira nyingi or Many children means many graves. As they tried to interpret this proverb, the doctor said that proverb was true many children will mean food will be inadequate to feed them and perhaps will die of hunger or many children will mean that there will be a reduction in the medical/health care for the many children in a home and once again be affected health-wise. Wanjohi had a different interpretation of this proverb, that having many children especially from those who get them out of wedlock will bring a lot of problems and misunderstanding in that home, perhaps even fights that can lead to dead. After this discussion they were agreed on the need for not interpreting the proverbs because proverbs should be interpreted as one sees them and depending on contexts. They were also agreed that the proverbs of the pasts are not empty words or phrases but instead that they can be applied in our modern situations quite well.
He also shared with participants how at another restaurant he saw the headwaiter harassing subordinate staff. On inquiring further, he learnt that this was a usual thing in this restaurant and he being a visit and coming to learn about what was happening here, he thought of which Kikuyu proverb to relate to this situation he came found this proverb to be more apt; Mucii umenyagwo ni murari, A home is better understood by one who has spent the night there, not a visitor.
4. Proverbs, youth and morality:
Benjamin Wainaina presented on youth and morality using Kikuyu proverbs. He said that proverbs could be used to teach the youth on good moral conduct. He said that some Kikuyu proverbs have a lot of counsel to the youth. He said that Kikuyu proverbs have guidelines on what to do and not what to do. He said that the proverbs could today be used to warn the youth on the dangers of carefree living. Quoting Kikuyu proverbs and their biblical parallels, he said that proverbs are as applicable today as they were used a hundred years ago, only that the context are different. He noted that the youth do not have regard to proverbs yet most of the problems they face can be answered by looking at the proverbs. He said he has currently 25 proverbs that he will develop in a presentation during the next meeting. He has collected the proverbs from the rural area and from Nairobi.
5. Short notice from America:
Jay Moon sent some highlights of what is happening at Asbury Theological Seminary, USA. He said each week, several of Africa doctoral students are meeting to discuss oral literature and its use in ministry. The students are from Nigeria, Zambia, and Kenya and are focusing on proverbs but also have discussed some myths and stories. They meet to discuss the meaning of the oral literature and then use the Scripture to interpret it. They hope to begin the process of learning contextual theology. The hope is that students can begin to do this at seminary and then continue as they return to their ministry location. So far every thing is going on well. After meeting for awhile, each of the participants has now selected some themes that they will write about. They plan to compile this as part of a class project on contextual theology, hopefully completing this by May.
Another item that Jay has been working on is a 20-minute video that shows various forms of oral literature in use. This is an initial attempt to help students to think about all of the valuable material that is available so as to encourage them to begin utilizing this in ministry and theological training.
His article on Builsa proverbs will be published in the Missiology journal in April. The article looks at the use of proverbs to open a window of understanding into the worldview. Then, these values can be interpreted in the light of the Scripture. He has included a song and story that deal with the same theme that emerged from the proverbs.
6. Any Other Business and updates.
a. The meeting agreed on the need to start the 2003-year African Proverbs Calendar well in advance. Joseph Kariuki said that he has already collected graphic art that can be selected and used for the calendar. Participants were asked to participate in the selections of proverbs that can be used for the twelve calendar month apart from the ones that has been used already for the 2002 calendar. The choice for the twelve proverbs for the 2003 calendar is from the 33 remaining proverbs of the 45 contributions that has been posted to the www.afriprov.org website since June 1998. Suggestions for the proverbs can be sent to the moderators at moderator@afriprov.org
b. It was also agreed that Dr. Wanjohi’s article Gikuyu oral literature with reference to the bomb attacks in the USA, first written in November after the terrorist attach in America be sent to that "What’s New Page" of our website, http://www.afriprov.org for wide distribution and appreciation by all visitors to the website.
c. Mike Koski, director of the Urban Ministries Support Group (UMSG) briefed participants that UMSG in partnership with the United Bible Society (UBS) is working to a acquire a dedicated line that will help people who come to use UMSG computers to browse efficiently. He said the acquisition of a dedicated line will ease the work of African proverbs project, the UMSG and the Child Data Exchange (CDX), a project of the UMSG once it is installed.
d. Rev Healey informed the participants that African Proverbs Project website has a new search engine on our website using the "Perlfect Software". The new feature is "user friendly" in searching by name of country, language, ethnic group, theme/topic, etc. The search Engine can be found at the bottom of the home page (front page). He asked visitors to the website to send feedback/comments/suggestions, etc to the moderators at moderator@afriprov.org or the administrator at admin@afriprov.org
The meeting ended at 5.12 p.m. after coffee and tea.
Joseph Kariuki (Secretary, Kenya Proverbs Committee)
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF PEOPLE INTERESTED IN AFRICAN PROVERBS HELD AT URBAN MINISTRY SUPPORT GROUP (UMSG) OFFICE, NAIROBI, KENYA on Saturday 15th December, 2001
Agenda of Meeting
Participants Present
Deliberations
Report for People Interested in African Proverbs
End of Year Meeting,
Urban Ministries Support Group (UMSG) Office,
Nairobi, Kenya
15th December, 2001
On behalf of African Proverbs Project (APP), I wish to welcome all of you to this end of the year proverbs meeting. I hope that during this meeting, we will be able to share our experiences and learn more about African proverbs, sayings and stories.
The year 2001 has been the busiest for us having held three meetings, this one included. Besides, the year saw the publishing of a new collection of proverbs, two collections of endangered proverbs and other activities related to the web site has come to fruition. This has been remarkable productivity. The first meeting was held on the 12th, May 2001 and the second on 6th, October 2001. You are invited to read the minutes of these meetings on our website:
As I have mentioned above the year saw one of the book associated with APP published. The book, Under one roof: Kikuyu proverbs consolidated is edited by Dr. Gerald J. Wanjohi. It was published by Paulines Publications Africa in June 2001 and is on sale in bookshops all over the country. Two collections of "endangered proverbs" are going on. Evans Nyakundi has already finished his first phase of research on Kisii (Kenya) proverbs. His first compilation yielded a pamphlet containing 400 proverbs. He is on the second phase of collecting Kisii proverbs. The other collection that is going on is Prof. Monica Mweseli's Bukusu (Kenya) Proverbs.
The African proverb of the month have been posted to the site http://www.afriprov.org promptly every month and I am happy to report that we have been able to cover the main corners of our continent this year with the East Africa countries contributing the lion's share perhaps because the web site is based here in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Proverbs from the following countries has been posted this year: Kenya-2, Tanzania-2, East Africa-1, Uganda-1 Mali-1, Nigeria-1, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)-1, Sudan-1, Sierra Leone-1, Ghana-1. NB. The numbers at the end of each country indicate the proverbs a country has contributed this year. East Africa means that the language (Swahili) is common to East African people.
I would like to appeal to people interested in African proverbs to contribute to the website. If you have friends, especially from other parts of Africa who would like to contribute to the site, you can please welcome them. Short cultural stories can also be sent for posting to the site. If you or your friends can do a 1-2-page write-up on a proverb that you are familiar with, it can be sent via e-mail to the
moderator@afriprov.org. In writing the write-up, we use a simple format:For more details on this you can visit website and on the home page click, "African proverb of the month."
The other activity that has been going on and has successfully been completed is the 2002 African Proverbs Calendar. It has already been posted to the website. The Calendar is unique in that, besides the graphics, there is a proverb for every month and you can read the explanation of the proverb by clicking "explanation" below the proverb. Twelve proverbs that has previously has been used in the web site are in the calendar. They are from Sudan (January), Tanzania (February), South Africa (March), Burundi (April), Ghana (May), Mali (June), Malawi (July), Sierra Leone (August), Kenya (September), Democratic Republic of Congo (October), Nigeria (November) and East Africa (December). It is also important to mention that Nicholas Adongo made a new, more attractive website design in August, 2001 which has more African cultural drawings and designs.
Generally, the APP has seen a very successful year 2001. Visitors to the site have sent very positive comments to us on how useful the site has been to them. The site has been a useful resource to students, researchers in various fields as well as the public especially young Africans who have been attracted by the stories and Sayings. I welcome you to visit the site and be part of the large group who visits the site registering an average of 260 hits daily. I would also encourage you to subscribe to the e-mail discussion list that has over 170 subscribers. Once you subscribe you can be part of this electronic forum where you can share your experiences with other subscribers, and in line with the wisdom of a Ganda (Uganda) proverb: "one who sees something good must narrate it", be able to spread the importance and usefulness of proverbs, sayings and stories to as many people as possible all over the world. To subscribe write an e-mail
To write a message to the list (all those who have subscribed to the list), write an e-mail to:
proverbs-list@afriprov.org. This message will be shared by the over the 170 people who are enjoying this service.Lastly, I wish to thank everybody for coming to share with us today. Your coming is a testimony that there are still people interested in preserving our African cultures. We appreciate your attendance very much. As we come close to the festive season, I also wish every one of you a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Thank you.
Joseph Kariuki
Assistant Moderator,
African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Web site (
Participants comments on the report focused on the 2002 African proverbs Calendar hailing its completion. They were however concerned that the calendar could still not reach as to as many people as possible because not many can access it on the Internet. Lack of funds was identified as the limiting factor to production of the hard copy (paper) calendar. Despite very many people from all over the world saying they would want an African proverbs calendar, none was willing to come forward to finance its production. Dr. Wanjohi offered to take a few printout copies of the calendar to the Textbook Center, Nairobi that is an important outlet for parents, students, teachers and the general public. This will be one way of marketing the website here in Nairobi, Kenya and elsewhere and people were asked to make a printout and give it out to friends.
It was also said that another way to market the website is through inter-personal contacts whether by those who know about the website informing their friends and colleagues.
He has put together a video which shows various aspects of Oral Literature in use among the Builsa people of Ghana. The video is a collection of among other things video cuts, photos and cassettes tapes he assembled in Ghana as a SIM missionary from 1992 to2001. In this project, he is trying to show what indigenous oral literature exists among the Builsa people.
Jay has recently submitted an article to the journal of Missiology to be published in the April, 2002 issue about the interaction between the Builsa proverbs and the gospel, showing how this interaction informs both culture and the gospel when the mother tongue scripture is used as the interpreter of oral literature. The focus of this paper is on one prominent theme in Builsa proverbs and uses some songs and stories to confirm the theme in the proverb.
The participants were appreciative of Jay’s notice and especially because it fell well within their areas of interest. They welcomed any other such notices in future from people who have been doing research and would like to share their ideas with other interested persons.
He said that Kiswahili has "given" Kikuyu a very large vocabulary. Using proverbs he showed how some words has all together been forgotten and in their stead, replaced by other Swahili words that has now become common place. Some Swahili words have been Kikuyunised to become commonly accepted Kikuyu words. For example, Thani, plate (Kikuyu) from Sahani,plate (Swahili), Gikombe,cup(Kikuyu) from Kikombe,cup(Swahili), Banga, machete(Kikuyu from Panga,machete(Swahili), Gichiko,spoon(Kikuyu) from Kijiko,spoon(Swahili). He said for instance that from the proverb "Muria na gati/mutaho ndooi muria na kaara ni ahiaga", On eats with a gati/mutaho,-Kikuyu traditional spoon- does not know that one eating with bare hands gets scolded, it shows that the Kikuyu had a word for spoon yet it has now become almost extinct.
From the English language, Kikuyu language he said has also borrowed a lot. He said some words and place names were wrongly borrowed because they came about as a result of the Kikuyu hearing pronunciations of certain words wrongly. The Kikuyu got Kabiaro, tea/coffee without milk from a "wrong hearing" of ‘coffee alone’ from the Europeans. Other words that has firmly entrenched themselves into the Kikuyu language from English include Ciinji, Change as in money balance after a transaction or verb for transformation or noun for modification. The interesting thing is that there are Kikuyu names for these, yet they are not used in these contexts these days.
He has observed two peculiarities however, which are more creative as far as Kikuyu language borrowing is concerned. First from Swahili, the word "train" is rendered as gari la moshi (smoke emitting car), and in Kikuyu it is rendered as ngari ya mwaki or mugithi (fire emitting car). He felt that the Kikuyu rendition is more positive and creative arguing that smoke as opposed to fire evokes sinister motives. The other peculiarity he said is in the naming of mobile phone, a craze in Nairobi, is rendered variously in Kikuyu as thimu ya ruhuho, aerial phone, thimu ya gukua, phone for carrying, thimu ya muhuuko, pocket phone. He said the Kikuyu-nizing of such words as Kombiuta/KambIuta for computer was also okay.
He concluded that the best way to go about handling the spelling of words when borrowing was either to get a child to pronounce the word or an old person who has not been influenced by literacy i.e. one who has not gone to school and writing down that pronunciation.
Participants’ reaction to his presentation was in wanting to know how the Kikuyu language has "given" or contributed to other languages especially English. He said that it has contributed such terms as Kiondo, woven basket; irio, food; githeri, mixture of maize and beans. These are words that have become common in usage by people in Kenya and East Africa through the hotel and tourism industry. One Kikuyu word that was thought as a candidate for inclusion into the English language soon is mwaki, a term that is currently being used all over East and Central African to refer to small Christian communities. Other words from Swahili that were thought to easily be "given" to English were Nyama Choma, roast meat, Ugali, stiff porridge and Safari, travel adventure; Jambo, hallo has come to be acceptable to English language through tourism. It was agreed that borrowing and discarding some words all together is a natural way of stabilising a language because all language are prone to borrowing as "even the English language that was used in the African proverbs meeting was only about 50% Anglo-Saxon and the language used in court rooms is only about 40% Anglo-Saxon"
This contribution is part of a book project which Rev. Healey and the Paulines Publications are doing together on "The History of Salvation: A Biblical Catechesis." The 62 African stories and an equal number from the bible are to be used to show the new use of African stories therefore allaying the talk that African stories are only of the past and interesting only researchers and scholars in the west. This project will use all of the 62 stories largely with a religious focus. They intended to show ubunifu, Swahili for creativity in biblical catechism. Healey also read four other African stories: from the Boran-Oromo people of Kenya and Ethiopia, mainly depicting the creation theme and paralleling the Bible’s creation story; a Nubian, Sudan fable; "The Person Who Couldn’t Find God" (with its adaptation in different contexts); and a true story of a heroic Kamba Mother. The 62 African stories and the parallel Bible stories has been classified into seven categories:
I. Animal Stories, II. Animal-People Stories, III. Cultural Stories, IV. True Human Interest Stories, V. True Human Interest Stories, VI. True Personal Human Interest Stories and VII. Fictious Short Stories.
She also provided brief social-cultural explanations to some proverbs that "are difficult to understand and to translate since they lack either meaningful English words for translation or do not match with relevant English words". She has provided a 2-page note to introduce the proverbs collection. From the collection she sampled a number of proverbs and explained their application in traditional Bukusu context and the contemporary use during the meeting. In the collection, she states, "In the proverbs one discovers Bukusu spiritual and moral convictions, historical evidence, and even rules of etiquette".
Joseph Kariuki, Secretary
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF PEOPLE INTERESTED
IN AFRICAN PROVERBS
Urban Ministry Support Group (UMSG) Office
Nairobi, Kenya
Saturday, 6 October, 2001
Agenda.
Participants.
Proceedings of the Meeting.
He also said he is working on stories. He read to participants a story, one of the many he has collected from his Gusii Ethnic Group. His stories are in Gusii and he has also translated them to English and provided biblical parallels to these stories.
The participants concerns were: How he was dealing with the question of dialects in standardizing the language he was using in the Gusii given that the Gusii community has different dialects. He answered that he was retaining the proverbs linguistics properties as he has collected them. He said that he was treating these proverbs that appeared to have different linguistic properties as different proverbs.
He was concerned that most of the youth were not interested in the programmes given that in most of the call-in sessions its the elderly people who call to be explained a certain proverb or to explain. He also observed that among the youths with whom he has talked to about the programmes, most would not remember the proverbs that has been elucidated upon that day, let alone know its meaning once it was given to them. He wondered how the radio could target the youth to make them appreciate proverbs.
He observed that what goes for the proverbs among the youth in Nairobi was popular sayings associated with the matatus (popular means of public transport in Kenya that involves mini-buses) culture. He was concerned that most of these sayings use very dirty language that does not have any educative value to the youth.
(a) There are new proverbs that are not typically Kikuyu
(b) There are proverbs that carry words that dates with colonization
(c) There are Kikuyu terms that are not in proverbs but are in use today
He said there are proverbs that have words that are not Kikuyu such as "Caitani" meaning the devil, "Bundi" for artisan, "Tauni" for town, etc. He said that the Kikuyu only had "ngoma" or spirits for instance. He also noted that most of the foreign words found their way in Kikuyu proverbs due to interaction with other languages like Kiswahili and English. He noted that among some early words that came from Kiswahili must have come via their earlier partner, the Kamba people who acted as the middlemen between the coastal Swahili traders and the Kikuyu.
The most curious thing that he has learnt is that there are some Kikuyu words found in proverbs but when people speak they use different word. He gave one example of two words "nduari" and "murimu" both of which means disease or sickness. He said in the proverbs the latter word is used but in everyday talk, the former word, "nduari" is used.
Three of the stories he used are also found in the book: Joseph G. Healey, M.M. and Donald F. Sybertz, M.M., Towards An African Narrative Theology (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 3rd Reprint, 2001 and Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 3rd Printing 2001), 400 pages.
Among its milestones has been (1) holding conferences of researchers, (2) production of a CD-ROM of collections, studies and bibliographies, (3) production of African Proverbs books series, (4) setting up of regional centres in Nairobi, Kenya, South Africa, Legon, Ghana, and Abidjan, Ivory Coast which caters for Francophone Africa (5) Coming up with a forum for discussion by setting up an E-mail discussion list and website, (6) holding ongoing meetings.
He invited participants to visit the African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Website at: http://www.afriprov.org
Participants revisited the issue of meetings emphasizing the need to meet more frequently. The Kenya planning committee on the proverbs was urged to be meeting every month if only to keep the project on track.
Participants were also reminded that there is a grant of US $400 for endangered proverbs (proverbs from minor languages spoken in Africa.]
The need to popularize proverbs through the radio, newspapers and books was revisited. The example of "African Oral Traditions", a recorded tape on stories, proverbs, songs and sayings about and from Africa by the Comboni Missionaries was used as a showcase.
After tea and coffee the meeting ended successfully at 5.48.p.m.
Joseph Kariuki (Secretary)
The following people attended:
A summary of the proceedings is as follows:
(i). Conferences of researchers and scholars interested in African proverbs were held in Mozambique and South Africa.
(ii). A CD-ROM of collections, studies and bibliographies of African Proverbs entitled The Wisdom of African Proverbs was produced by Global Mapping International (GMI). The CD- ROM contains 28,000 proverbs and the equivalent of 70 printed books.
(iii). The African Proverbs Book Series was started with first five interesting books printed: Ethiopian Wisdom -- Proverbs of the Oromo People; Hearing and Keeping -- Akan (Ghana) proverbs; Lugbara Wisdom (Uganda Proverbs); The Voice of the People-- Proverbs of the Basotho; and Embracing the Baobab Tree -- The African Proverb in the 21st Century. These books are also contained in the CD-ROM mentioned above.
(iv). Regional Research and Resource Centres were set up in four countries: Hekima College, Nairobi, Kenya is the Centre for Eastern Africa; University of South Africa in South Africa; University of Legon in Ghana; and Abidjan, Ivory Coast the center targeting Francophone countries. The purpose of these research and resource centres is to encourage people to collect, research and write proverbs especially "endangered proverbs" with the aim of preserving them. "Endangered Proverbs Collections" are proverbs from languages of African peoples whose number of speakers is not many. Currently six collections of endangered proverbs have been published (four from Tanzania, one from Kenya and one from Somalia). The centres are also useful for information on special collections that are proverbs from well-known languages (languages with large populations of speakers) in Africa. Father Healey reported that after organizing the conferences, preparing the CD-ROM and printing the books, some of the remaining funds were given to the Research and Resource Centers to cater for work on other endangered proverbs and special collections.
(v). The last milestone of the APP was setting up a website and an E-mail Discussion List. This idea was first mooted by Rev. John Shane, then with Urban Ministry Support Group (UMSG). The idea behind the website and E-mail Discussion List was to facilitate quicker communication with the people all over the world interested in African proverbs by providing a forum for people to share interests and experiences.
(i). Original Sukuma Proverb.
(ii). Explanation in Sukuma.
(iii). Swahili Translation.
(iv). Explanation in Swahili.
(v). English Translation.
(vi). Explanation in English including the Christian teaching.
(vii). Biblical Parallels.
(viii). Dictionary Root Words.
Father Healey also reported on the latest research on modern African sayings especially of African youth in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
(i). Add a section on the "up-coming projects" on the website.
(ii). Contact the newspapers especially the education supplement in the Daily Nation on Mondays as a news feature.
(iii). Target University literature departments where oral literature is one of the key subjects taught.
Arising from these observations participants felt there was a need to meet more frequently (every six months) and a committee called "The Kenya Planning Committee On The African Proverbs Project" was set up to organize this. The following participants were proposed to constitute this committee that will plan for another meeting:
The second project identified was a video. Ukweli Video was said to be interested in producing a video on APP and related proverbs concerns. The only problem there was that there was no one to coordinate the project. Charles Nandain who has some experience in writing scripts for video volunteered to help in this area. The Daughters of St. Paul Congregation who use video and films in their work was also given as second suggestion through its Paulines Publications and Audio-Visual Section.
(i). Participants proposed the need to introduce proverbs to schools through booklets for young generations.
(ii). Having small collections of African proverbs from different languages and different countries in Africa on a particular theme such as "Women". Participants’ attention was drawn to the existence of such collections as the book Source Of All Evil by Mineke Schipper. A proposal was put forward to do a review of this book and publish it on the "African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Website."
Joseph Kariuki (Secretary)
Report on Our 11 September, 1998 African Proverbs Workshop
Nineteen people participated in the African Proverbs Workshop and
Discussion at the Urban Ministries Support Group (UMSG) Office in Nairobi, Kenya
on 11 September. We came from the following countries of origin or countries of
ministry: Chad; Democratic Republic of the Congo; India; Italy; Kenya;
Madagascar; Mexico; Tanzania; Uganda; and USA. A summary is as follows: