Heritage! Gado!
Say it
Repeat it
Nothing is more valuable than heritage
Because culture is heritage.
Cultivating millet grain
Raising cows
Melting iron
Sculpting masks
Knowing how to fish or hunt
All that, I tell you, is heritage.
Getting married, becoming engaged
Naming the newborn
Or burying the dead
All that, you need to know, is heritage.
Heritage, you are so hard to preserve
Because beneath all heritage hides a secret
A secret bequeathed in confidence
Confidence that comes from knowledge, experience and understanding
Kélétigui Abdourahmane Mariko (1921 - 1997) Niger
Translated by Debra S. Boyd
Source: 'A Man from the River Niger: Kélétigui Abdourahmane Mariko' Debra S. Boyd, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Vol. 42, No. 2, January 2005
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