What's in a name?

Wow, it has been a long time. I have been busy with school stuff so my internet time is consumed with business and I haven't had time to post. Anyway ...

Knoughvah Girl?
Now I have two reasons to get married and get a new name. In Canada, people think my last name is my first name and that drives me insane! In Ghana, people simply can't read my name. When I say my name, they think I'm saying "girl", so when they see it written, they have no idea what it says. It's really funny to hear them try to say it. Some kids at church were joking, saying that my father's name is "Girl" and that was the funniest thing they had ever heard in their lives it seems. I have a video clip that of these kids trying to say "girl" with a Canadian accent. I'll have to post it some time.

Wianechomi
I.E. Wia ne cho mi,my Sisaali name. It is literally "God loves me". The women at church gave me this name in my first week here (I don't recall writing about this), so they never call me Knoughvah. All the kids at church find it easier to say Wianechome or Madame than Knoughvah. Whenever I introduce myself to people as Wianechome people smile and say my name is sweet. The name comes in handy when I'm doing my HIV/AIDS teaching and talking about God's love. Names here have meaning, so if my name is Wianechome then, in fact, people understand that God loves me. I don't some cheap imitation of love from a sweet talker.
Penny's Sisaali name is Badewia which is "Man is not God".

Madame
All my JSS (Junior High) students call me this, and it makes me feel old. Some of the students are actually older than I am, so that's a bit weird. One student from a village I taught in came into Tumu, and when he saw me, stopped, gave a bow, and took off his hat. It was very respectful of him, but it surprises me.


The White lady
Yes, I get this one too. For my HIV/AIDS teaching, I visit each school three times. Yesterday, I paid a second visit to a school, and one of the students gave me a report he wrote about my first visit. I was pleasantly surprised. When I read it, he was very complimentary about the White lady who came to teach them about HIV and AIDS. It was rather funny, but after a while, I think I figured out why he called me that. It's not that I look any different from them; in Sisaali, the word for foreigner, White person, English (person and language) is Foley, so when they are speaking in English, I think they say White person when they also mean foreigner (which is correct most of the time). I actually called myself White the other day. It was very strange. I'll try never to do it again. It's not that I don't like White people, I just like being Black.

Josephine
Ghana has launched "The Joseph Project" which is a program that invites the Ghanaian diaspora to return to Ghana and settle here. Currently, there is a celebration going on; some American are in Tumu who have traced their ancestry back to the slaves who were shipped to North America. The Sisaala have organized all kinds of dances and performances to show the American diasporans Ghanaian culture and give a history of slavery in the Sisaala area. Ghana hopes that they will choose to return to Ghana. They call the resettled diasporans Josephs and Josephines (after Joseph son of Jacob who was sold as a slave yet rose up out of slavery). Anyway, Penny and I went to watch the performances and our friend found us some front row seats. Somehow, I was spotted in the crowd and a guy approached and asked me if I am part of the diaspora. I declined, saying I am Jamaican, but I have not traced my ancestry like the visiting group of Americans. I also said that I am working here for four months with the Bible Church of Africa and SIM Ghana. Later, when the main speaker addressed the the crowd hundreds, he went on about a Josephine being in our midst. The stared right at me. All heads and television cameras were suddenly on me! I had no idea what to do. I kind of gave a nervous chuckle and waved at the camera. Later, the speaker approached me and said that I disappointed the crowd by not greeting them. I really had no idea what to say ... uh ... "I'm not really a Josephine" didn't seem like the thing to say. I just had to apologize, saying that the attention was unexpected.

I think that's all for names. The last month has been very busy. I teach seven times a week, so there is a lot of preparation and prayer going on each week. Last night it hit me that my time in Tumu is coming to to a close. In some ways, I feel like I haven't done a lot in my time here. Teaching the gospel and discipling girls is no easy task, and I'm not sure if I can see the fruit of labour. I'm not sure what I want to say about that right now, so perhaps more on that later. Please pray that I don't get discouraged by this. Last night, met with Pastor Edward and his wife for our biweekly meetings, so that was a time of encouragement. We talked about Jeremiah and very clear call on his life and the struggles that he faced. Is there such a call on my life? I'm not sure.

I've spent a couple of shifts at the hospital here in Tumu with the nurses and medical assistants. That was scary. I just wanted to observe, and some of the staff wanted to me do stuff, triage patients and sign papers. Nothing major, I just didn't think some random person off the street should be doing that. It was a good learning experience nonetheless. The post is far too long to say more on that.

I am doing well here and looking forward to my three day vacation to the game park next week. Thanks for your e-mails,text messages, and prayers.

Thanks for reading ~*