Olwethu Hoko

Hello, my name is Wonderful Rito Baloyi. I am a proud Tsonga from Malamule in Limpopo. My favorite African proverb is “Loko u nga fambi u ta teka makwenu”. Direct translation to English is “if you do not travel, you will end up marrying your own sister”. This basically means in order to learn more […]

At about 21 years old when I madly fell in love with my now fiance, I was very confused by a lot of challenges that come with a new relationship and actually loving someone else. I started leaning over towards being possessive and not knowing how to channel my love for this lady but my […]

Ntho engwe le engwe ena le nako ya yona ( Everything has its own time). My Father always told me these words when I wanted to give up, I remember I was unemployed, job hunting without success he would just tell me to be patient and my time is coming, here I am today I’m […]

The saying is, “Unyawo alunampumlo”. The meaning is that you don’t know where your feet might take you one day because ‘feet do not smell the road. The essence here is that as you journey through life, practice kindness all the time because you might need it too one day.

“Bana ba motho ba ngwathelana hlogo ya tsie”. Growing up we had very little and my mother instilled in me that sharing is caring. In a household full of 8 children, being selfish with toys, food etc was the way to go but my mother told me that human being should share where possible hence […]

“Isihlahla kasinyelwa ” like the wise Ismail Menk would say ” Always have your feet firmly planted on the ground and stay humble. Don’t look down on others, no matter how well-off they appear. Remember, the one you look down on today might be the person you have to look up to. My grandmother would […]

My strong african proverb goes like “kitso ke tshingwana, ge o sa e lemi, o ka se e tlhafule” – meaning that “knowledge is a garden, if not cultivated then it cannot be harvested”. This proverb was passed on to me by my father. He always used to say and I quote” just because you […]

My mother always used to tell me “ga go lekanwe go se meno” (people are not equal unlike teeth). So whenever I’m going about my way & working hard but still feel like others are achieving more than me I always remember my mothers’ words, people aren’t equally gifted in their talents & skills. My […]

Growing up my granny and almost every adult in our house loved saying, “Inkomo yob’thongo ayikho”: translated to, “There’s no success in sleeping”. This to me never necessary meant that I shouldn’t sleep but it taught me that hard working and comprising pays a much greater price. From the Proverb I came up with self […]

“Tloga tloga e tloga kgale, modisa wa kgomo o tswa natso sakeng” – which simply implies the importance of working hard from the go and avoid procrastination. The above Sepedi Proverb reminds me of the time I was still in high school (Mahoai high School) deep in the rurals of Limpopo. Every first day at […]