After toiling I have returned home with empty hands, that is, without being given the reward I deserve or expected. What a grave misfortune ?
“na gbwe-ya ewolo na timba ngundu” was an expression of grief that was sang in a chant by a mother who survived her children.
The chant has been converted to an idiom that expresses serious disappointment – lamenting for suffering a grave misfortune, for instance, experiencing a very poor harvest, for not being paid for work or services rendered, loss of business, suffering defeat in a contest, an estranged spouse, being disqualified after winning an election.
“na gbwe-ya ewolo na timba ngundu” = I have toiled and am returning home with nothing to celebrate, without some thing to show that I too have been working. I have toiled for nothing.
Oh ! I have been toiling for nothing. What a grave misfortune ?
Oma Nanu
Imba Thomas Mbua Ndoko
Chicago ILL, USA
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