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Ehipa yariimela mutthu ontaka okotja mukukuthimwe. (If a hoe is misplaced one starts searching for it under the bed.)
One should always start looking for a missing item in the core of the home (under the bed) before looking for it in unlikely places. One shouldn’t go to the neighbors and look for the missing item without first looking at home.
“Mutthu khanrummwa othela.” (A person is never told to go marry.)
A young adult never needs to be told to go get married, he is quite capable of figuring that out for himself. One uses this proverb to say “that’s obvious” or “duh!”
“Eruwa kheneetta, oneetta owese-ya.” (The termite mound doesn’t go anywhere, what goes places are the termites.)
A father or a mother doesn’t run errands, who runs errands are the kids. In the same way an important people don’t do small tasks, they have underlings to do small tasks.
Nikhule khanin’yeva ni anaye. (A mouse is not small when with its children.)
Most things in life are a matter of perspective. A mouse might seem small to us but its children see it as big.
job>>>jobar>>>ojobari = otjopari
Languages are living. Every now and again we are reminded of this when we come across a new variation in a word. Recently I heard a new term: “otjopari”. It has an interesting etymology. It is an English word (job) that was given a Portuguese verbal ending (-ar) that was then given a Mwinika verbal makeover (o-i). In Mozambique it is common to hear people saying they went to town to “jobar” which means “to look for a job” or “go job hunting” When you add the Mwinika verbal elements it becomes “o-job-ar-i.” The Mwinika spelling would then be “otjopari.”
This is a traditional Mwinika story of the race between the Rabbit and the Turtle.
“The Rabbit and the Turtle were good friends. One day they decided together to make a garden. When the time came for their garden to produce it really produced well. They had lots of food, things like sorghum, corn, peanuts, beans and lots of other food. The Rabbit, when he saw the abundance of food he began to plot ways to get all the food for himself. Soon he hit upon an idea to take advantage of the fact that the turtle could not run fast.
One day the Rabbit said to the Turtle: “Hey friend, why don’t we have a contest in the form of a race to see who will win the garden? Why don’t we race all the way around the garden and whoever gets back to this corner first wins?” The Turtle said: “Ok, that sounds good, just let me inform my family so they can come watch the race.” The Turtle went and arranged with three of his family members. He said to them: “I want one of you to hide next to each corner. As Rabbit is running along he will call out “okhapoo” and when he does you respond with “woo.”
When the race started the Rabbit ran along and called out “okhapoo.” From up ahead of him he heard the Turtle respond with a “woo.” The Rabbit was shocked and said to himself: “What! How is he able to run that fast?” As he went around each corner the same thing happened until he got back to the corner where they had started and sure enough, he found the Turtle already there. That is how the turtle became the owner of the whole garden and the rabbit lost out. In his efforts to gain more than his share he lost the share that he had.”
Moral: Friends should not try to take advantage of each other.
“Olamela okhwaranya opuha.” (What you are used to is better than having lots of something good that you are not used to.)
It is like saying “I would rather have the plain food that I am used to than a banquet of food that I am not used to.” This proverb expresses the feelings of many Mwinika people who have been listening to the teaching. They have heard what we are saying from God’s word but it conflicts with what they are used to. The idea is that if you are used to something it is easier to stick with what you are used to rather than to change, even if you can see the value in the new ideas. It is similar to someone in our culture saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” We often use that expression when we want to resist the pressure to change. In this case we are presenting what God said in His word and many people are feeling the temptation to resist it on the basis that they are not used to it.
This is a traditional Mwinika story of the Mwiikhopololo (a type of lizard) and the Nipalaka (a type of large locust or grasshopper).
It was the time of the dry season that uncontrolled bush fires rage. The lizard dug a hole to serve as his home. Then one day about mid-day there came an uncontrolled bush fire. The lizard fled into his home to avoid it. At the time of the fire the grasshopper was fleeing in front of the fire. As he was fleeing he came across the hole of the lizard and fled into it to avoid the fire. After the fire was over the grasshopper thanked the lizard and turned around and jumped out of the hole. As he jumped out his powerful back legs poked out the eyes of the lizard, the owner of the home there, that he had fled into.
The moral: Guests who stay with you always leave destruction in their wake.
“Omwiina kirinkina onvenyera.” (To dance the kirinkina dance one has to get up.)
You can’t get what you want by daydreaming. You have to put in some effort. To dance you have to stand up and go join the dancing, you cannot participate sitting down. The Mwinika use this proverb when someone wants something but isn’t willing to put in the effort to get it.
“Mutthu ahommwa mwiiwa ompatjere waakula vale vahommawa.” (A person pierced by a thorn begins to remove it at the place where it went in.)
The point of this proverb is to say that one must start to fix a problem at the point where it started. We used this proverb to show that the key to understanding the solution to our sin problem is to look at the cause. If we know where things went wrong, we can figure out where it needs to be fixed.