mwanasikana ndimapfumise

Literal translation: a daughter is a goldmine.

What it means: a daughter has the potential to make her family rich if she marries up in a calculated hypergamy fashion and also due to an African cultural practice where a bride price (roora or lobola) is expected to be paid in a lump sum in cash or to be paid in installments if that is what is agreed upon.


Of course, this tsumo ("proverb") is a controversial subject to many. It portrays one of the reasons certain people advocate that the whole entire roora (or lobola) tradition should be abolished because they interpret it as an outdated custom of treating offspring as property to be sold off later on.

Also, in reality, this tsumo is more likely to be fulfilled if the daughter in question is actually a mbama (i.e., easy on the eyes), to begin with. Because if she is an average plain Jane the chances of attracting a wealthy man to pay huge sums in roora are very, very slim. I am not saying it can't happen but... yeah. Maybe.
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Nolwazi Kwayedza
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