The saying “Each one teach one” is an African proverb that originated in America during slavery times. Slaves were seen as chattel and therefore denied an education so when one slave learned to read or write, it became his duty to teach someone else.
Frank Laubach, a Christian missionary went on to use the phrase to address poverty and illiteracy in the Philippines. It was later used in Jamaica to form the Adult Literacy Programme.
This site is based on the Each One Teach One principle where we share what we have learned with you. We also believe that we can learn from the past to build the future: Sankofa.
The meaning of Sankofa
Sankofa is an Akan word that means, “We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today.”
The Akan (Ghanaian vernacular) word, Sankofa means “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”
The word is derived from the words:
SAN (return),
KO (go),
FA (look, seek and take).
The symbol of Sankofa is that of a bird whose head is faced in the opposite direction of its body. This is emphasising on the fact that even though the bird is advancing, it periodically makes it a point to examine/ return to its past since this is the only way for one to have a better future.
Some also interpret Sankofa to mean, no matter how far away one travels one must always return home. However Sankofa is interpreted, the basic and important meaning still lies; one’s past is an important aspect of one’s future. So in order to make the best of one’s future, one must visit one’s past.
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