Collection of Eʋe Proverbs you need to know: By Cephas Yao Agbemenu

Cephas Yao Agbemenu, a Ghanaian citizen has unvieled a collection of popular Eʋe Proverbs that everyone must know.

According to Cephas Yao Agbemenu, he started this project in 2008 during a vacation visit to his home town, Leklebi-Kame in the Volta Region of Ghana. Agbemenu was very inspired by the frequency and appropriate timing of the usage of proverbs among the people of Volta Region.

With this, he decided one afternoon to write down the proverbs that they were using. The peoples became very interested and all and sundry in the community came around to give their proverbs for documentation.

Narrating further, he said, at the end of the second day, the author collected 351 proverbs. Out of this, the project ensued by transcribing the proverbs into English and then finding their meanings in every day usage. Finally the author, who is an artist in his own rights, developed artistic symbols.

The Ewe speaking peoples are found mostly in South Eastern Ghana, Southern Togo and Benin and in South Western corner of Nigeria around Badagri. In Ghana, they are generally known to be very hard working people, very honest and straight forward people. They are generally farmers and fishermen along the coastal areas. But due to the poverty of their farming lands which happen to be on the hilliest areas of Ghana, coupled with early contact with missionaries who introduced formal education in t the country as a whole, the Ewes end up being very well educated people. One therefore finds a lot of Eʋe in very high positions in the civil service and sometimes in the private enterprise too.

Find attached, the collection of the Ewe Proverbs everyone must know.

In an acknowledgement, Cephas Yao Agbemenu thanks all those who contributed in one way or the other towards the completion of this document. “My greatest thanks go to Fr. Joseph G. Healey, MM of the Maryknoll Society of Kenya, for financial and moral support. I would also like to thank the African Proverbs Working Group in Nairobi for reviewing progress of the work during their meetings.” He said.

He extends his special thanks to Dr. Gerald Wanjohi personally for his support as a member of the African Proverbs Working group in Nairobi as well as his publications on Kikuyu proverbs which gave him the inspiration for this work.

According, to him, he is greatly indebted to those who contributed the proverbs on behalf of all the Eʋe peoples of Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. He also extended his appreciation to his family for their support during the whole project and to all others whose names have not been mentioned here.

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh