A Word Fitly Spoken...

A story is told of a young man, sitting by the river bank, discouraged since he could not swim across the river. An elderly man walked up, rolled up his pants, and then walked across the surface of the water. The young man was in disbelief until another elderly man arrived, rolled up his pants, and also walked across the surface of the water. Eventually, a third elderly man arrived and did the same thing! Finally, the young man decided to try for himself. He rolled up his pants and tried to walk across the surface of the water – only to sink and be carried away by the swift current. The three elderly men looked back and replied, "If only he had asked us – we could have told him where the stones were placed to cross over the river safely!"

When approaching oral cultures, proverbs can be regarded as these sturdy, time-tested stepping stones placed by the elders to move people from the river bank of unbelief or young faith to mature faith. - - W. Jay Moon.

These last few months, the Lord has shown me the important of learning and using African proverbs. In the seven years that I have been here, many times as people find out that I speak Twi, one of the first things they ask me is if I am able to speak proverbs.

I have learned that it is a very important part of communication and is seen as a sign of wisdom and the ability to properly communicate. My wive has recently bought me a book of Akan proverbs. It contains over 8,000 of these proverbs in Twi and English.

The more that I work with the people here the more I see the important of these proverbs. They are the way of saying the truth when it would be hard to be blunt. It is a way for people that cannot read to remember what was said in a easy way. Also it opens a storehouse of understanding into the way the people in this culture think.

Luckily the Akan people have one of the strongest recorded history of their local proverbs and saying. A missionary recorded the first group of African proverbs every written in the 1890's and his people group was the Akan. This effort has greatly helped the Akan people in there use and ability to remember this verbal tool of the culture.

Some examples of Africa Proverbs-

"When a frog comes out of the river and tell you there is a crocodile inside, it true!" Meaning- heed the voice of experience

"A log may soak in a river, but it will never be a crocodile." Meaning- not matter how long a fake tries, he will never be the real thing .

"A long rope is easily entangled" Meaning- to much talk ends up in trouble

"The old women feeds the chicken, so the chicken can feed her" Meaning- people can do good things because they know good will come out of it in the end.

"If the head is present, why then is the hat wore upon the knee" Meaning- when an older person is present it is not appropriate to give the responsibility to a younger person.

"An alligator solves its problems in the river and not in the forest." Meaning- there is a proper place and time to solve any problem.

"It is because of hurried eating that the monkey did not grow fat" Meaning- a person that does not sit down and plan things well and does not do things right they will not gain anything.

"The benevolent husband cannot give his wife as a gift" Meaning- a man cannot give some things no matter how good he is.

"The left hand washes the right, and the right washes the left" Meaning- "I scratch your back you scratch mine", but without the idea of it being for a bad reason. People need help.

"Monkey play by sizes" Meaning- young children should know their place and be respectful.

"The man who does not tell his neighbor that there is sickness in the soup, will not sleep at night when the neighbor is cry in pain" Meaning- when a person does not tell a friend they are doing wrong, in the end it will effect them also.

"When the elephants fight in the bush, it is the grass that suffers" Meaning- when parents or leaders fight, it is the children or followers that suffer the most.

"The length of a frog can only be determined after it dies." Meaning- don't judge a person's live until it over.

"In the village of the blind, the one eyed man is king" Meaning- those that do not know better will be lead by those that are not the best choice.

"If nothing touches the palm-leaves they do not rustle" Meaning- were there is smoke their is fire.

"A loose tooth will not rest until it's pulled out." Meaning- a matter will not be solved until it is dealt with.