‹ ProverbsFrançais

African proverbs about community

9 proverbs · 7 cultures

BembaChewaFonMaasaiMalagasyTswanaXhosa
If a stranger comes to stay with you, do not forget, as you lay aside his weapons, that he is hungry.
Feed the guest before you question them. Hospitality starts with basic needs, ahead of suspicion, caution, or curiosity about who they are.
Hands wash each other.
One hand can't get fully clean on its own; it needs the other. A real community runs on give and take between people, not on giving in one direction only.
Your neighbor's misfortune today may be yours tomorrow.
The trouble that visits a neighbor today can visit you tomorrow. The proverb warns against mocking another person's misfortune and urges helping them, since circumstances change.
Be like the mouth and the hand: when the hand is hurt, the mouth blows on it; when the mouth is hurt, the hand rubs it.
When the hand is hurt, the mouth blows on it; when the mouth is hurt, the hand rubs it. The proverb holds this up as a model of harmony and mutual help between people.
One finger cannot pick lice from the head.
Picking lice from hair takes more than one finger, however careful. Some work can't be finished by one person alone, and pretending otherwise just leaves it undone.
The tortoise is friends with the snail: those with shells keep their shells close together.
The tortoise and the snail have little in common except the shells they carry. Shared circumstances, more than likeness, are often what draw people together and keep them close.
Eating without sharing is like swearing with your mouth.
Eating in front of people who have nothing, without sharing, is an insult as real as cursing at them. Generosity is expected, and holding it back is an offense, not a neutral choice.
A child of your friend is your child; if you take care of him or her, you will profit.
The proverb treats a friend's child as one's own. Caring for that child is expected, and the saying adds that the care given comes back to the one who gives it.
The cow has no owner.
This saying is recorded without an explanation. It may be read as a reminder that no one's hold on wealth is permanent: a cow, like any possession, can pass to someone else.