Global Mapping International
AFRICAN PROVERBS
If you go through the high grass
where the elephant has already gone through,
you don’t get
soaked with the dew.
(Ghanaian Proverb)
This proverb
traditionally meant that young men should follow the ways of the elders rather
than run off to the right or left, exploring new and untried ways. Rev. Joshua
Kudadjie, editor of the “Proverbs for Preaching and Teaching Series” in the African
Proverbs Project, put a Christian spin on the proverb.
Christ is our “elephant.”
He is bigger than we are, stronger than we are, he was here before we were, he
went through more than we have to go through and he took on himself all the bad
things that should have fallen on us. Since he cleared a way for us, why should
we go through life on any other path than following in his steps?
By unlocking
the potential of traditional proverbs like this one, African pastors can evangelize
and teach more effectively than through any imported means. The African Proverbs
Project encouraged this kind of communication. ”
Out of Print
The
Wisdom of African Proverbs CD-ROM
Collections, Studies, Bibliographies
The
African Proverbs Project and Global
Mapping International released a multi-faceted
electronic research tool, The African Proverbs CD (for Windows). The culmination
of a three-year international research project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts,
this CD edited by Dr. Stan Nussbaum contained the information equivalent of over
30 printed volumes including:
- Over 27,000 proverbs from dozens of
African languages
- 23 complete books, including 9 previously unpublished
works
- Excerpts of "key pages" from almost 200 proverb collections
- An annotated bibliography of over 800 African proverb collections
- An
annotated bibliography of 279 research articles on African proverbs
- 35
previously unpublished essays on the study and use of proverbs
- 42 maps
showing the status of African proverbs in over 1200 languages
- A directory
of over 1500 African languages, variant names, dialects, and locations
- A
biographical directory of more than 66 proverb collectors and researchers
- A
list of proverb collections in print, including publishers' addresses
Users were able to:
- Search for proverbs on a given topic
- Look for proverbs from
a certain country or language on any topic
- Download or print from the
CD
- Browse through a proverb collection
- Add proverbs or notes
to a collection or document
- Check a bibliography for books/documents relating
to language/country
- Visualize the status of proverb collections in each
country
- Read an essay on proverbs
- Get addresses of proverb collectors
and researchers
- Find out how to order proverb collections and studies
- Discover
more about the African Proverbs Project
Minimum
System Requirements
Windows 3.1, DOS 6.2, 386DX, 2X CD-ROM drive, 4MB RAM,
7.5MB hard disk space. Click here for technical support
information.
- In Africa, this CD-ROM may still be available at special discount
prices from:
- Sister Maria Rosa Ballini, D.S.P.
- Paulines
Publications Africa
- P. O. Box 49026
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Telephone:
(254-2)447202/3
- Fax: (254-2)442097
- E-mail: paulines@iconnect.co.ke
- Mrs.
L. Theart
- Unisa Press
- University of South Africa
- P.
O. Box 392
- Pretoria 0003
- Rep. of South Africa
- E-mail:
thearl@alpha.unisa.ac.za
If
you had problems installing The Wisdom of African Proverbs, click here.