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Swahili has a large number of proverbs that relate to gender, sexuality, reproduction, and marriage. Swahili speakers use proverbs to guide one another to live together according to dominant cultural values, which makes them a useful source for learning about what those dominant cultural values are. They can be used to warn, persuade, advise, or teach, as well as to reprove or criticize. They can express something considered a general truth, or they can be used to remind people of values that they seem to be forgetting.^[1] Unfortunately, most collections of proverbs list them out of context, so it can be difficult to know exactly how Swahili speakers use them until you hear them used. 

Proverbs have a recognizable format, which helps to distinguish them from ordinary sentences. We can divide them into two important parts: structure and content. These two components contribute to the role of the proverb, helping to make the proverbs more memorizable and understandable. Most proverbs are structured in two sections and each section contains its content and offers its unique image. Proverbs tend to be very short, but to carry a lot of meaning. Their brevity helps make them easy to remember. Proverbs rarely change; people remember them exactly as they are, and if someone uses them differently, they are usually doing so intentionally to artistic or humorous effect.^[2]

Proverbs contain two important parts. Each part focuses on something, which makes the proverb possible. The first part (but not usually the second part) can be used instead of the entire proverb. For example, in the list below, one could say “Mume wa mama,” and other Swahili speakers would know that you meant, “Mume wa mama ni baba.” Sometimes they will even finish the proverb for you. The first part is usually longer than the second part because it’s the core of the proverb.^[3] 

Proverbs have both literal and figurative meanings. The essence of most proverbs is a fact. Usually one’s mother’s husband is one’s father. But the meaning of that proverb is far more comprehensive than its literal meaning.^[4] For example, “Mume wa mama ni baba” can be used to suggest that one should treat one’s stepfather with the same respect and deference as one would treat one’s biological father. In the context of Islam, this proverb can also means that we should never question a child’s paternity. 

Read the proverbs listed below; try to understand them as best you can, but don’t look anything up yet.  After you’ve read them all, complete the exercises that follow.

1. Mume wa mama ni baba.
2. Siku utakayokwenda uchi, ndiyo siku utakayokutana na mkweo.
3. Anayenyimwa ugali na mkewe huvunja nyumba.
4. Baba ni baba lau kama ni kahaba.
5. Bembekeza si unyumba, kukataa kuhangaika.
6. Katika radhi ya baba huimarika ukoo.
7. Kila mtu na mkwewe.
8. Kinywa cha bibi kisipite cha bwana.
9. Kisa kimoja hakimwachi mke.
10. Kuoa ni arusi, kuishi wawili ni ngoma.
11. Kupendana, kuzaana.
12. Kuzaa si kunya.
13. Wakiwa kuhuji mtu na mkewe, jahazi la saji limevunjiwa pa mawe.
14. Msichana mzuri kumbe funza.
15. Bibi mzuri hakosi kilema.
16. Chanda chema huvishwa pete.
17. Hakuna anayemshinda mwanaume kama mwanamke.
18. Hutamkuta msichana anayejidharau.
19. Kina cha moyo wa mwanamke ni mfuko wa mumewe.
20. Licha ya uchungu, wanawake hawaishi kutamani kuzaa.
21. Mke atasahau kufua shati lake, lakini hasahau kupokea bahasha.
22. Mke kito chema.
23. Mke mbaya, mpe mwana na mbeleko.
24. Mke mpya hana dawa, dawa yake upya wake.
25. Mke mwenye adabu ni fahari kwa mumewe.
26. Mke mzuri halindwi.
27. Mke mzuri humtii mumewe.
28. Mke wa kwanza ni kama mama.
29. Mkeka mpya haulaliwi vema.
30. Mtu halindi bahari ipitayo kila chombo.
31. Mwanamume ni kazi.
32. Mtu nyumbani mwake hatiiwi ni mkewe, haonwi kuwa mume, asipompiga, twa.
33. Mwanamke hawi jumbe.
34. Mwanamke mrembo haolewi na bwana mmoja.
35. Mwanamke ni muhogo, popote unapotupwa unaota.
36. Mwenye dada hakosi shemeji.
37. Ushaufu si heshima ya mwanamke.
38. Uso mzuri hauhitaji urembo.
39. Kosa moja haliachi mke.
40. Mficha uchi hazai.
41. Mke ni nguo, mgomba kupalilia.
42. Mume wa mama ni baba.
43. Mvunga mkeka.
44. Mwili wa mwenzio ni kando ya mwilio.
45. Siku utakayokwenda uchi, ndiyo siku utakayokutana na mkweo.
46. Uchungu wa mwana, aujua mzazi.

Exercises

Write out your answers to the following questions in preparation for a discussion with your classmates, instructor, and/or conversation partner.

1. Think of a proverb or saying from your own culture related to gender and/or sexuality. How do you interpret it? Do you agree with it?
2. Choose one proverb that you understand well without help from other resources. What does it mean literally? Does it have a different figurative meaning? In what situation do you think this proverb might be used? What does it teach you about Swahili understandings of gender and/or sexuality? Do you agree with this proverb? Is there a similar proverb in your culture, or in any other languages you know?
3. Choose three proverbs that you don’t understand. Using a dictionary or the internet, and/or talking with an expert Swahili speaker, find out what each means literally and figuratively, as well as in what contexts it might be used. What does each teach you about Swahili understandings of gender and/or sexuality? Do you agree with them? Are there similar proverbs in your culture, or in any other languages you know?
4. Show this list to some Swahili speakers you know. Which proverbs are they familiar with? With which proverbs do they agree with and disagree? Can they give you any examples of contexts when they’ve heard these used, or could imagine themselves using them? If you are able to talk with more than one Swahili speaker about these proverbs, are there any differences in their responses? If so, why?
5. Compose your own Swahili proverb that expresses a dominant value from your own culture about gender and/or sexuality. Be able to explain it to your classmates, instructor, and/or a conversation partner.

Sources of proverbs:

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