"Where there's a will, there's a way"...

We've all heard this phrase, but did you know that it's a Swahili proverb?

Afriprov.org has an extensive collection of African proverbs and stories, complete with information about their origin and meaning. You can search the story database by subject, title, area of origin, occasion, author, year, or season. There are over 500 stories posted in entirety and 1000 listed. You can print proverb calendars, download e-books, purchase cds, and browse maps of Africa. You can check out the proverb of the month or week, and vote on your favorites. The website doesn't appear to be completely updated (the last proverb of the month listed is October) but it's chock full of information, and worth looking into.

This video is from Afriprov.org, and was originally posted to YouTube.com

 

 

 

 

This site caught my attention because I am interested in learning about stories and sayings that originated in Africa. I was surprised to see a few that I've heard before, but never knew where they came from. For example, "It takes a whole village to raise a child" is an Igbo and Yoruba proverb. The 2012 calendar is titled "Women: Relationships, Equality and Rights", which can be directly related to our recent studies of the development of women in Africa. One of the featured proverbs is "Educate a woman, educate a nation" (Fanti proverb, Ghana), which highlights the need for equal education rights to empower women to help lead an otherwise male-dominated land.