July 10

This afternoon I was invited to tag along to a Rwandan baby naming ceremony, for Oscar who works in the hospital pharmacy, his wife, and their infant. Apparently it is a tradition that family and friends are invited to join the couple as they choose a name for their new baby. There were probably 70 adults there and an untold number of children being supervised inside the house. The ceremony was held outside the couple's home. There were benches to sit on, and tarps were stretched out overhead to provide shade. As you can see in the pictures, there were decorations and people were fairly dressed up. A buffet lunch was served and sodas and water bottles were passed out. Many speeches were made by the father, mother, family, co-workers, and 3 pastors who were present. At one point, I was mentioned as a guest but I just had to wave and smile. Thankfully, no speech was required from me!

The new first name for the baby - a girl - is Nadine. It is typical that a first name is either French or biblical. In Rwanda, last names are usually not passed down from parents to children. Usually the last name is a Kinyarwandan word or phrase. So when deciding what the baby's last name would be, the parents reflected on the difficult pregnancy and delivery they had with this child, and the child's subsequent breathing problems. In thanks for the child's survival, they created a last name which is a Kinyarwanda phrase meaning "thank you, God".

In the pictures above:

1) The mother is saying a prayer. Her husband Oscar is sitting behind her, to the left. Gender equality is a big thing in Rwanda, and someone who was translating a bit for me at the ceremony said that the father specifically mentioned that his wife was in charge of the naming. ;) The mother had on a really pretty yellow gown (what I would call a sarong, I suppose).

2) In the group picture, we see Oscar and his wife, and I think that is an uncle on the left. On the right is Sheila, the British nurse missionary/administrator who is my main contact here. And Sheila is holding Oscar's baby.

3) This couple was seated next to me at the ceremony. He's a Methodist pastor of a nearby church who used to be a chaplain at Kibogora Hospital. His wife was very pretty and had on a beautiful green dress with a matching headdress. She apparently runs one of the little shops (called "ducas") just outside the walls of the mission.

I very much enjoyed being able to experience a little bit of real Rwandan culture and family life today. So glad I was there.