Spare a thought for those who are bestowed with troublesome names. That can happen anywhere, of course. But, in Zambia, Chris Haslam came across some very surprising choices.
\n________<\/p>\n
Under a darkening sky on a dusty, potholed track in eastern Zambia, a small boy is struggling to push a large, Chinese bicycle. Its handlebars, crossbar and panniers are stacked impossibly high with yellow jerry cans, firewood and a sack of rice. Because the boy needs both hands to keep the bike upright, he can\u2019t sweep the flies from his eyes. But this seven-year-old is laboring under a much heavier, but less visible burden.<\/p>\n
His name is Mulangani. It\u2019s a Nguni word meaning \u201cpunish me\u201d. Or \u201che who must be punished\u201d, if you want to get formal. Who, I asked my driver Mavuto, would give their child such a horrible name?<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe his grandfather, maybe the chief,\u201d he shrugged, explaining that across Zambia and neighboring Zimbabwe, it is common for parents, especially in rural areas, to invite community elders to choose the name of a newborn.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes the chief wants to punish the family,\u201d says Mavuto. \u201cOr he may think this new child is too much for the family to bear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watching the boy\u2019s Sisyphean progress towards his distant home, that name suddenly seems disturbingly apt, but he\u2019s not the only one cursed with a dismal name. In later days, I meet Chilumba – \u201cmy brother\u2019s grave\u201d, Balaudye – \u201cI will be eaten\u201d, Soca – \u201cbad luck\u201d and Chakufwa – \u201cit is dead\u201d.<\/p>\n
I also meet Daliso, whose name means \u201cblessings\u201d and Chikondi, which means \u201clove\u201d. Maybe it\u2019s me, but they do seem happier.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn African culture, there is a trend of naming children according to the circumstances surrounding their birth,\u201d says Clare Mulkenga-Chilambo, a care worker at SOS Children\u2019s Villages in Zambia. \u201cIt\u2019s good for those born at bright and merry moments but unfortunate for the others.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there are a lot of others. HIV and Aids have ravaged Zambia, and although infection rates are now falling, 55,000 adults and 5,000 kids became infected in 2015. Countrywide, an estimated 380,000 children have been orphaned by Aids and 85,000 are living with HIV.<\/p>\n
Ask Massiye, or \u201corphan\u201d, or Chisonis – \u201csadness\u201d, or the sad-eyed Chimwamsozi, whose name means \u201cdrinker of tears\u201d. Or nine-year-old Komasi, whose name means \u201ckill him\u201d, and his little brother Komaniso, aka \u201ckill him also\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost Zambians have several names,\u201d says Kangachepe Banda. His name means \u201cwell off\u201d or \u201crichness\u201d, and as a safari guide he\u2019s doing OK.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking about the first one. It\u2019s called the zina la bamkombo – or the name of the umbilical cord. After a birth, the mother and child hide away until the cord drops off. On that day, the baby is presented to family and neighbors, and the person honored with choosing the name makes his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Use of this name is supposed to be limited. It\u2019s supposed to be kept between the namer and the named – a dark reminder to the growing child that one person saw into his or her soul at birth.<\/p>\n
The church, says Clare Mulenga-Chilambo, offers deliverance. \u201cMost people turn to Christianity and on baptism, they are given Christian names,\u201d she says. \u201cThis gives them the opportunity to give up their traditional name, which is often seen as the cause of whatever misfortune they could have been facing in their lives\u201d.<\/p>\n
But there are some here who see opting for the homogenized anonymity of John, James or Mary as a dereliction of tradition. Others feel that the names must be kept not just out of respect to elders but also as a guarantee of ancestral protection.<\/p>\n
If the name maketh the man, then surely Zambia\u2019s notoriously grim prisons are full of unfortunates who\u2019ve been saddled with names like Chidano, Mapenzi and Chananga – that\u2019s \u201chatred\u201d, \u201ctrouble\u201d and \u201cwrongdoer\u201d respectively?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s possible,\u201d concurs Muvato. Growing up, he knew a kid called Chiheni, which translates as bad boy, or thug.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe ran away from home when he was 12,\u201d he says. \u201cHe is in prison in South Africa for the attempted murder of a security guard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, little Mulangani – he who must be punished – has scrounged a lift in the back of our pick-up to his home. It\u2019s a tin-roofed hut with a neat vegetable patch patrolled by bickering chickens and a dog called Imbwa. Which means \u201cdog\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sometime soon, says Mulangani, I\u2019m going to be baptized. My new name will be Emanuel. It means God is with me.<\/p>\n
He smiles. He likes Emanuel.<\/p>\n
As we drive away, there\u2019s a storm brewing in the west. The potholes are getting deeper and the clutch is playing up. As the first fat raindrops splatter the dusty windscreen, it suddenly strikes me that I haven\u2019t asked Mavuto what his name means.<\/p>\n
He grimaces as he struggles to find third gear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means problems,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
[Illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #10808]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spare a thought for those who are bestowed with troublesome names. That can happen anywhere, of course. But, in Zambia, Chris Haslam came across some very surprising choices. ________ Under a darkening sky on a dusty, potholed track in eastern Zambia, a small boy is struggling to push a large, Chinese bicycle. Its handlebars, crossbar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[370,1437,5105,1774],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}