“Twa fanm sifi pou fe yon marche.”
Translation: “Three women are enough to make a market. Meaning, a few women make a lot of talk.”
Market day in Haiti is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It always seems like the entire village of Godet is present at this small stretch of road, gently laying second hand clothes on a tarp on their patch of ground, buying a can full of beans for that day’s afternoon meal, carrying towering displays of any variety of pills for any malady imaginable, frying balls of dough filled with salmon, examining the dress shoes draped across a merchant’s shoulders…and it always seems like everyone is talking. Talking to the seller, talking to the buyer, talking to the other merchant’s nearby, talking loudly about what product is for sale and for how much. The market is the perfect picture of “hustle and bustle”.
When I read this proverb, the Godet market was my first thought. Then I thought of when me and a few of my girlfriends get together and I had to laugh. It is too true. I have never been in the company of other women and experienced any notable length of silence. There is always something to talk about, always something to laugh about, always something to share.
To all my sister girlfriends out there, read this proverb with pride. Because I can tell you most of the people I see in the market are smiling, laughing, enjoying each other’s company. Woop it up with your girls. I feel very blessed to have some amazing women in my life and I cannot wait to hang out with them someday soon and make a market:)
Greetings,
It is in Honor of my Haitian Grandmothers that I greet your page and “mission work” on the beloved island.
Having read your translation of this ancestral mother tongue, I feel moved by Spirit to correct your interpretation.
“Twa Fanm Sufi pou fe yon mache” means literally, “Three women is plenty to BUILD a Marketplace”. See before you decided to come to Jesus and come onto the island and offer them your version of “help”, we women of the marketplace gather and sold our goods from the community farms, the seas, the rivers, the forests, and all the bounty that is Haiti the “Pearl of the Antilles”.
We women of the Marketplace don’t just “talk”; we instill principles passed down orally from our African and Taino Heritage. We talk about Bondye, the Good God-Dess who sees Justice as allowing everyONE to pray to God in their native tongues.
Again, I simply wanted to give you a deeper perspectives of that Haitian Proverbs.
Bilolo,
Ibo Zimbi Dlo
Thank you, Ibo. We really appreciate your perspective and knowledge!