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Fadzayi Maposah-Correspondent
I am in the mood for indigenous proverbs.
Last week I talked about “rinonyenga rinohwarara rinosimudza musoro rawana”, proverb that literally translated to men who are courting potential partners do not show their true colours until they have won the woman.
As one who is keen to learn I was happy to get feedback that the story I shared could have made use of the proverb “rina manyanga hariputirwi” which simply means that one cannot hide the true situation, the truth is always revealed.
When I got that feedback, I realised that there are so many people within our country who love our languages and their rich proverbs, idioms and metaphors.
I had an opportunity of seeing what children in primary school are getting as homework. Today’s children are learning so much!
I was the centre of attraction when I asked some parents with children at primary school how they are managing their homework because it is a lot.
Very often on some platform on social media, there is always a request for members to assist with homework.
Other members who are as old as I am are always amazed at some of the proverbs that either require completion, explanation or getting another with the same meaning.
Once someone jokingly said that it seems that there are ‘Ama2000’ proverbs because back in our school days we never heard some of the proverbs that are surfacing today! Or just maybe, our teachers then just focused on the “main” or very common proverbs.
Our chance to learn new proverbs is presented when we have to assist a relative do homework.
There is this thing with many young people; they think that grey hair is synonymous with having indigenous languages proverbs at one’s fingertips.
They will approach you with a lot of confidence and because you want your reputation as a fountain of knowledge to remain untainted you will post the questions on social media platforms while you ask them to read a passage or finish some chore before you tackle the homework.
When the answers have been shared on the platform, you call back the child to announce that it is time to get started.
During the whole exercise you pretend as if you are so good that as you play around with your phone, you can just provide the answers! The respect that one gets for such a show is immense. The setback though is about setting a precedent about how good you are when actually you are not.
All it means is that the young person will keep coming for the expertise that you do not possess! As I am writing this I am thinking of a proverb that can best explain this scenario.
There is another proverb that says “Chakawana hama hachisekwi:” which means one should not mock or laugh at what will have befallen a fellow kinsman.
This is because the same fate with which a kinsman will be struggling with can tomorrow be your portion.
There is another proverb that is closely related to this proverb is “seka urema wafa’.
This proverb translated means one should only mock/laugh at disability when one is dead. This simply means that laughing at what befalls others should not be done. As previously shared I am slowly moving towards menopause.
It is some bumpy road and the one issue that is really getting to me is that those who have gone through menopause keep telling me that, the real menopause is yet to come.
If that statement is not enough to cause anxiety, then I do not know what else will cause stress.
The other thing is that the people who say this are not trained for this, they are just self-trained and they believe that you need some tough love and tough dealing.
Actually, they think that they need to be frank so that you are fully prepared. It is unfortunate that we are living in a society where people who Google a few titbits of information suddenly become experts.
Back in high school, college and initial days of joining the workforce, even now there are so many issues that affect women, me included.
There are some instances where I have come across girls and women suffering from period pain month after month.
Some have regular periods and regular pain. I have watched women try all sorts just to relieve the pain.
I do not mean to boast, but when I was younger, I never experienced any period pain. None. It was a dream; I am sure that many women envy me. It was occasional discomfort, but besides that it was all smooth sailing.
Then life began…changes were felt. Real changes. Only this week I had so much menstrual pain that I felt like going around the community looking for anyone who has had period pain in the past.
I wanted to make a call and mobilise every female who has experienced any menstrual pain.
Then when gathered I would ask them on behalf of women elsewhere who had experienced menstrual pain to forgive me and other like-minded people.
One may ask forgiveness? Yes, you see at some point I would ask one who was experiencing pain how bad the pain was. Even at some point asking them to at least try eating something so that they could take painkillers.
Sometimes someone would say that no painkiller would take away the pain and I would question what they needed and the answer would be: just the strength to endure the pain.
Now grey haired and not having experienced such pain before, I am a mature novice.
I need the strength to endure the pain. Above that I am trying all remedies that will keep me going. When the irregular period does come, I am literally armed with hot water bottles, painkillers and a book to distract me.
When asked how is the pain, at times I am just quiet or wish I could hold up an emoji. “Chakawana hama hachisekwi.”
I salute the females who remain strong, fulfilling their duties despite menstrual pain.
Online Reporter