what your name?

"What you name?" I cannot even count how many times I have been asked that question and how many times I have asked that question of the people I meet here. At home, I've met many people with a variety of names... from Tom, Sam, Rachel, Kim, David, Kelly, and so on and so forth. Occasionally, I meet someone with an slightly more unique name such as Shalom, Lanae, Ali, Jonas, or Logan, but even those names are not that unusual. In Africa it is a different story altogether. Most little girls dream of meeting a handsome prince, falling in love, and riding off into the sunset to a land of "happily ever after." I have dreamed of finding my prince, but never did I imagine, that I would actually meet someone named Prince. One of the first weeks I was here, I took care of a patient named Prince, he was charming, and did ask me to marry him, but I graciously declined. I was shocked that my patient was actually named Prince, but now that I have been in Africa for 7.5 months I now know that Prince is actually one of the more "normal" names. I have met Darling Boy his name was a great fit, he actually was very darling. Another baby was named Praise. We called him Mega Praise because he is one big baby. I have also met Gift, Baby Girl, Blessing, Peewee, Playboy, God's Gift, Baby, Princess, Precious, Dearest, Hope and Joy( a set of twins), Anointed, Lucky Boy, and Daughter. Some more of the common names in Africa include Hawa, Finda, Kaymah, Varlee, Bendu, Jitta, and Esi. I have asked a number of the parents where they come up with the names for their children and most of them say from life circumstances. This past week I took care of a delightful, little 3 month-old baby that had a cleft lip surgery, his name.... Oldpa.... There was nothing old or pa about him, I have no idea where that name came from, but I won't ever forget him or his name. Directly across from Oldpa was my 5 year old patient named... Mama.... I love this place! This culture is so unique and beautiful.