A ligkaribe Article - happiness

Happiness
“Now having seen it for myself because of my Babamkuru’s kindness, I too could think of planting things for merrier reasons than the chore of keeping breathe in the body. I wrote it down in my head: I would ask Maiguru for some bulbs and plant a bed of those gay lilies on the homestead in front of the house. Our home would answer well to being cheered up by such lovely flowers. Bright and cheery they had been planted for joy. What a strange idea that was, it was liberation…”
Tsitsi Dangarembga Zimbabwean writer, Nervous Conditions, 1989, p 64


“The word happiness does have a meaning doesn’t it? I shall go out in search of it.”
Mariama Ba, Senegalese writer, So long a letter, 1970 (1981 edition, p.89)

“Sorrow will perish; laughter is its cure,
Make it a habit to laugh everyday”
Shaaban Robert, Swahili poet, “Laugh with happiness”

“ in the time of happiness:
ships ply the river;
they move north and south
men build temples and dig ponds,
they make plantations of trees for the Gods.

In the time of happiness:
The people make merry;
They drink in the gladness of their hearts.
For a man can put his bed in the shade,
And sleep safely behind his own gate.”
Admonitions of a prophet, maxims of the ancient Egyptian sage Ipuwer,
around the end of the 5th Dynasty (McCoy, Ancient Egyptian proverbs, p19)

“increase your happy times, letting yourself go;
follow your desire and best advantage.
And “do your thing” while you are still on earth,
According to the command of your hearts.”
Song of Antuf, carved on the wall of a tomb in Egypt, 1300 BC (McCoy
ancient Egyptian proverbs)

“Be cheereful while you are alive”
Instruction of Ptah – hotep, no.34, maxims of an ancient Egyptian priest,
5th dynasty c 2340 BC (Kaplan, p3)

“Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it.“
Euthopian proverb, (Leslau, African proverbs, p26)

“To be happy in ones home is better than to be a chief”
Yoruba (Nigeria) proverb (Areje)

“My heart is all happy,
My heart takes wing in singing,
Under the trees of the forest,
The forest our dwelling and our mother.”
Pygmy (central Africa) chorus (Turnbull, Man in Africa, p.109)