I got interested in
African proverbs when I was studying the Kisukuma language to work with the
Sukuma people of Tanzania.  During the yearlong program I visited homes and
conversed with people.  It gave me great pleasure to hear them laugh whenever I
used one of their proverbs.  Later in my pastoral work I would often start a
catechetical class with a proverb or two.  For example, That which does the
cultivating is in the stomach. We would discuss how a person cannot work
hard without eating first.  Similarly, a person cannot live a Christian life
without first hearing and then absorbing the Word of the Lord.  In our classes
one person would read a Gospel parable or miracle story, then go back and read
one or two sentences and wait for me to come up with a related proverb.  I would
usually have one or two ready to trigger the discussion.  Little by little, the
people would enter into the conversation. It was not unusual to spend a whole
hour on one passage.  Frequently the Sukuma proverbs brought home the lessons of
the Gospel:

   
One time when we
were discussing the glory of the resurrection of Jesus, an old woman mumbled
something that made everyone laugh.  I wanted to know what she had said.  It was
a riddle: What went away naked and came back clothed?  The answer was a
corn or peanut seed. From then on any time we discussed the resurrection I used
that proverb.  Perhaps people now think of resurrection whenever they are
planting their corn or peanuts. This proverb is similar to what Jesus said,
"Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains just a grain. But
if it dies, it brings forth much fruit."