The Name Follows the Child
Names carry a lot of weight. Even in the United States, parents are naming their children more and more based on the meaning of the name instead of just what they like or what they think sounds good, but here in Burkina Faso, names have had powerful meanings for a long time. A name always means something, and you carry it with you for your entire life.
They have a saying here that says, "the name will follow the child," which means that the name given is like a prophecy, even if it isn't a self-fulfilling one. What you are named is who you will become.
This is why it is so troublesome and unfortunate that many people among our people group have horrible names. I've heard names such as "death will follow" and "the day of my sorrow."
Take the example of a child named "bad things will follow." From his birth, he was severely developmentally delayed and became a burden to his mother. Even when he grew up, he dropped out of school and decided to do nothinwith his life. He is now a bandit and a thief.
I frowned as one of my teammates told me this story, and I couldn't help but ask, "If people believe the name follows the child, then why do they give their children such horrible names?"
It's ignorance, she said. "People have suffered so much that all they knownto do is pass suffering onto their children." This is something I will never understand because I've just never suffered as much as they have.
This past week, we had a day-old orphan baby admittedly into the infants in distress program. His mother died that morning from a retained placenta, and his family brought him straight to us for help with milk. The first question we ask in the admission assessment is the name of the child. The family didn't know. He didn't have one yet. So they asked us to name him.
Having just read Matthew 25 about "whatever you do to the least of these, you do for me," we were convicted to put into practice what we had just learned. Instead of being overwhelmed by the number of people that need help we are called to focus just on the one that God presents to us on this day. One by one, we make a difference, and then all those ones add up. It was an encouragement to be personal in our ministry.
Not five minutes later, we had a little one presented to us whose mother had just died. And who didn't yet have a name.
We chose Matthieu. Matthew in French. A blessing from Matthew 25.
Then Rebeca gave him a Dagara name that means "may grace be shown through you."
We get this opportunity to name children quite often. I don't know if it's because the family wants to give us the honor since we play a role in saving the life of the child...or if it's because they feel like the child is cursed and they don't want to claim the child as their own. Possibly a little of both. But we take it seriously, and you can see the stark difference between the babies in our program, who have names such as "God's blessing", "the will of God", and "may God guard you", and the ugly names of the average person. Instead of a curse, we give a blessing by the bestowing of a beautiful, hope-filled name.
The family loved the name, as if it had given them a little ounce of new hope, too. "It's beautiful," they said.
As we left the office, I patted little Matthieu on the head and said, "May your name follow you, and may you grow into a strong man of faith and a man of God. May this name be a blessing."
They have a saying here that says, "the name will follow the child," which means that the name given is like a prophecy, even if it isn't a self-fulfilling one. What you are named is who you will become.
This is why it is so troublesome and unfortunate that many people among our people group have horrible names. I've heard names such as "death will follow" and "the day of my sorrow."
Take the example of a child named "bad things will follow." From his birth, he was severely developmentally delayed and became a burden to his mother. Even when he grew up, he dropped out of school and decided to do nothinwith his life. He is now a bandit and a thief.
I frowned as one of my teammates told me this story, and I couldn't help but ask, "If people believe the name follows the child, then why do they give their children such horrible names?"
It's ignorance, she said. "People have suffered so much that all they knownto do is pass suffering onto their children." This is something I will never understand because I've just never suffered as much as they have.
This past week, we had a day-old orphan baby admittedly into the infants in distress program. His mother died that morning from a retained placenta, and his family brought him straight to us for help with milk. The first question we ask in the admission assessment is the name of the child. The family didn't know. He didn't have one yet. So they asked us to name him.
Having just read Matthew 25 about "whatever you do to the least of these, you do for me," we were convicted to put into practice what we had just learned. Instead of being overwhelmed by the number of people that need help we are called to focus just on the one that God presents to us on this day. One by one, we make a difference, and then all those ones add up. It was an encouragement to be personal in our ministry.
Not five minutes later, we had a little one presented to us whose mother had just died. And who didn't yet have a name.
We chose Matthieu. Matthew in French. A blessing from Matthew 25.
Then Rebeca gave him a Dagara name that means "may grace be shown through you."
We get this opportunity to name children quite often. I don't know if it's because the family wants to give us the honor since we play a role in saving the life of the child...or if it's because they feel like the child is cursed and they don't want to claim the child as their own. Possibly a little of both. But we take it seriously, and you can see the stark difference between the babies in our program, who have names such as "God's blessing", "the will of God", and "may God guard you", and the ugly names of the average person. Instead of a curse, we give a blessing by the bestowing of a beautiful, hope-filled name.
The family loved the name, as if it had given them a little ounce of new hope, too. "It's beautiful," they said.
As we left the office, I patted little Matthieu on the head and said, "May your name follow you, and may you grow into a strong man of faith and a man of God. May this name be a blessing."
Comments
Post a Comment