African fables teach lessons

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Some Cleveland residents are telling tales about spiders and lions to keep alive African fables and teach youngsters how to make better decisions.
Senior residents in the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority spin the yarns through Griot! A Culture & amp; Wisdom Exchange Program. It was one of 21 programs to receive an award this year from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.
Storytellers, often dressed in traditional African garments, reach out to youths in public housing to teach them both the lessons and the traditions of African stories.
One story begins with a farmer removing the hair from his pigs.
Several animals then told a passing lion that the barrel full of water was for a bath, so the lion backed into the hot water, his tail poking through a hole in the barrel.
The tale explains how the lion ended up with only a mane and a small tuft of hair on his tail, 79-year-old Ester Stowers tells a room of Cleveland children. But it also teaches youngsters not to let others back them into bad decisions.
"These stories have meaning," said Jacci Griffin, senior services administrator for the CMHA.
About 500 children have participated in the storytelling sessions in the past two years.
The program, funded by a $2,500 grant from the Cleveland Browns Foundation, also gives children an opportunity to learn from the experiences of the storytellers, said Hassan Rogers, who often beats a drum or leads the audience in dances.