Stories, videos and pictures that open the world of common Maragoli proverbs with meaning. Enjoy African proverbs from a sub-tribe of the Luhya of Kenya. For a complete list, visit our page on Maragoli proverbs and sayings. Further, learn more about the Maragoli here.
Linyonyi lia kukwimba, a bird has sang (about) you, is a Maragoli saying that’s the perfect quip, clincher or savory figure of speech for those moments when caught out. Do you wish to speak kimaragoli like a true Maragoli? Sayings and proverbs are a sure way to get you speaking Lulogooli not only fluently but … Read more
You can be born poor, but what excuse do you have for dying poor? Kumutambo kukhunyoa buyinda bukhakhunyoa. All about this Bukusu proverb that reminds us to get our hustle going no matter what. As they say, get rich or die trying. Vocabulary: First, a quick introduction to new Bukusu words For a beginner’s ease … Read more
It’s happened to most of us, feeling out of your depth. If it’s yet to happen, trust me when I say it’s a fact of life. What some have labeled as the impostor syndrome or impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome is part of growth in life. Lucky, as we’ve come to learn, we can always … Read more
I know many of you of a certain age, would be nothing without the tough love of a few strokes from the lukhendu of your loving Luhya mother. This is the story of your childhood, these are our stories….this, is growing up Luhya. Today, whiling time away as I chose to STAY AT HOME during … Read more
The gecko, namukhokhome, loves his caterpillars, esa, for food. But it reaches a time that even the gecko rejects what it loves: Namukhokhome kafucha esa. This Abanyala saying means that however much we try to hide the unsavory contours in our characters, they time to time get exposed. Case in point is namukhokhome in this … Read more
It’s not often that one can link African oral literature with the modern science of epidemiology. Such an intricate exercise is within the realm of medical anthropology, whose practitioners locally shouldn’t fill the fingers of one hand. But for an ‘old’ disease like smallpox, you could be in some luck. It shouldn’t therefore be lost … Read more
There is a Swahili saying that’s similar saying to this Maragoli proverb. It goes, ng’ombe ya maskini haizai mapacha. But I find the Lulogooli version, Imburi yu mudaka yivura amalongo dave, more pungent. Simply because twinning in goats is naturally a more probable occurrence than in cattle. Science has it that the incidence of twinning … Read more
