Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

Proverbs are short sayings that express an obvious truth and which sometimes give advice and teach lessons of life. Every culture has them, whether they are transmitted by way of a standard language or through local vernaculars. Here in Jamaica, our cultural heritage is replete with proverbs. They represent the story and history of a people who have seen hardship, and who know how 'fi tek bad tings mek laff'.

"The proverb, 'Tek bad tings mek laff', was then, and still is, the most powerful and thought-provoking message that inspired me to work for myself," said Lorlett Hudson, a Jamaican entrepreneur, living in London, England. "In many ways, these five words changed my life. I believe that sometimes we have to learn to laugh during these hard times and it's during these hard times that we truly find ourselves."

Animals and inanimate objects

The main characteristic of Jamaican proverbs is that the lessons are not taught explicitly. Another feature is the use of animals and inanimate objects as the main characters. As such, they invariably require interpretation, especially for non-speakers of Jamaican Creole. Nevertheless, they are very powerful in their effect, and have been the source of inspiration and guidance for countless number of Jamaicans.

For generations, the speech of our fore-parents, especially the maternal ones, was laced with proverbs. But, as time went by, and as technology became more advanced, the use of oral traditions to pass on moral and educational messages has diminished. Moreover, language use has evolved and people have found other means of collective and self-expression. The use of proverbs has become less and less, to the point where some of the meanings have been lost in interpretation and because of the infrequency of use. Using proverbs to teach and to scold has lost its currency.

One person who, however, is preserving this aspect of our cultural heritage is Lorlett Hudson. Born and raised in Salters Hill, St James, she attended Salters Hill All-Age School before leaving for the United Kingdom in the early 1970s to join her mother. Her very young days were spent with her grandmothers, Alberta Haughton and Ada Hesson, who taught her life lessons through proverbs.

"I have obtained some powerful life lessons of how to develop my ideas with high expectations and strategies to navigate my life effectively from my grandmothers' inspiring storytelling and proverbs ... Their proverbs help me today to accomplish many goals in my business by strategically planning for success while anticipating the possibility of facing many obstacles along the way," she said.

Having gone through the British education system, she has GCE subjects, a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication, a postgraduate diploma in professional development and a diploma in life coaching. She has also attended several personal development courses including Landmark Education.

While working as a trainer and life skills coach, Hudson became very concerned about "the growing inter-generational gap in our community, under-achievements and the loss of culture". Then, she got the idea of using "proverbs from personal development perspectives in [her] teachings to guide and sustain our history, develop young people and adult cultural awareness, thinking skills, self-awareness, history, humour and creative thinking".

To achieve this, she decided to leave the security of her regular job. "Armed only with my life skills, degree, determination and an abundance of self-belief, I decided to create a product to help me achieve this objective. So, I delved into my past and used my life experiences to develop the multi-award winning 'Things Mama Used To Say' Jamaican proverbs flashcards - using our past experiences to influence our future."

This was in 1999 when Hudson realised that the proverbs her grandmothers used to recite to her really 'made sense'. So, she compiled 52 of them 'into flashcards to inspire and teach others to broaden their horizons and develop a 'thinking-outside-the-box mentality'." She said when she was feeling 'stuck', she would reflect on the proverb, 'Find out weh wata walk go a pumkin belly', which means 'always set yourself challenges to find a different answer - think outside of the box'.

Support of others

To keep the dream alive, Hudson started a business called One Hand Cant Clap, the name itself being inspired by a popular proverb. "The concept behind One Hand Cant Clap is one of collective responsibility because 'no man is an island", One Hand Cant Clap is more than a statement; it's an attitude, of believing you can do something with the support of others and having the courage and determination to see it through.

"Remembering the words of wisdom, encouragement, support and the survival techniques I heard and learned from my mother, grandmothers and other relatives in the form of proverbs, I decided to find a way of capturing and using that wisdom to create a product, which could be used by many as a ready-made source of inspiration," Hudson said.

But, how does it work?

"My training sessions often transcend into innovative history lessons surrounding cultural expressions and their origin. Delivered nationally, delegates are actively encouraged to fully participate in exercises which enable them to reflect on their history, explore the enterprising spirit within and learn the significance of proverbs.

"During these sessions, participants are given a flashcard and shown how proverbs are used not only to transmit wisdom across generations, but can also be used skilfully to conjure up imagery and metaphors imbued with unrivalled knowledge and understanding of the cultural, physical and spiritual inclination of a group or society," Hudson explained.

"These proverb cards have proved to be an innovative tool used to develop individuals' creativity, facilitate change and develop high-performance teams," Hudson said. In recognition of the effectiveness of these proverb flashcards, One Hand Cant Clap has won the Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network 2005 Award, National Wavemakers 2006, and is a member of the very select family of Courvoisier Future 500 top talents in 2009 and was a finalist for the 2008 National Training Awards 2008.

Hudson, by virtue of using Jamaican proverbs flashcards to effectively teach, train and guide, is preserving an aspect of our heritage which seems to be on the decline, and that's why she's this week's Keeper of the Heritage.

She said: "Proverbs form an integral aspect of Jamaican and Caribbean cultural heritage, representing the collective experiences of people, past and present, serving to highlight the history, ingenuity, oral storytelling traditions and creativity of the Jamaican and Caribbean people to develop modes of communication that pass on knowledge and wisdom across generations."

paul.williams@gleanerjm.com