The kanga is the East African version of the brightly colored bolts of cloth familiar throughout the continent (and beyond—the Indian sari and Asian sarong aren't too different). Wrapped around the waist or shoulders, tied as headscarves, repurposed as child carriers, sewn into blouses and men's shirts—there's not much the kanga can't do. Though much of the cloth you see in Africa has topical prints and slogans intermingling with the wild patterns, kangas tend to have a single slogan running along the bottom, generally a Swahili proverb or riddle. I have a kanga hanging in my office window that reads HAMADI KIBINDONI SILALA MKONONI, which turns out to be an encouragement to frugality whose literal meaning is something like "money in your underwear, a weapon in your hand". The kanga pictured above unravels its mystery a little more easily into this post's title.