Abstract
In West Africa, the Yoruba have a proverb which says: “Omo omode ko to pepe, t’ abalagba ko wo keregbe.” It means, “The small hand of the child cannot reach the high shelf. The large hand of the adult cannot enter the narrow neck of the gourd.” Ogunbowale interprets this proverb to mean that “. .. Adults and children need each other. None can exist without the other, and each must respect the other. . In essence, this is the type of Interdependence in human relationships that concerns me in this paper. A Womanist kind of Interdependence. “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am,” speaks poignantly and ontologically of our inter-relatedness. The African proverb just cited graphically reminds us of the vulnerableness and the concreteness, often precarious in nature, of our dependency; our blatant need for one another, young and old, large and small, female and male.