Ezekiel James is the newest member of Masese, the village where we serve lunch every Friday! His mother, Jo, sometimes cooks the beans we serve for lunch and has been VERY pregnant for a while now. When we walked by her house last Wednesday to drop off the beans, we were so excited to see her holding a brand new baby! He was very big and healthy! When we asked her what his name was, she said "He doesn't have. You give for him". It was really fun that she wanted us to name her baby, but we couldn't think of anything on the spot- there are so many choices! So, we told her we'd tell her when we can to serve lunch on Friday (today). We spent most of the hour-long walk back to Jinja thinking of names and finally decided on Ezekiel (meaning strength of God) James (meaning our favorite character from "The Office").
When we walked by her house again today, all the kids around were calling out "Mzungu Baby" ("white baby"), which is what he's been referred to for the past few days. We told her the name we came up with and she really liked it! She especially liked that we said she should call him "Baby Zeke" for short. The kids were eager to hear his new name as well and as we left her house we could hear them all saying "Baby Zeke" over and over.
Serving lunch in Masese this afternoon was wonderful! When we got there, the kids were already lined up in two different lines. A few of the village mothers decided to help us manage the lines and maintain some order and it was so helpful! There was hardly any pushing and shoving, and it was actually a pleasant experience! We usually spend the entire time shouting at the kids to get into lines, but today we were actually able to talk to the kids, even if just a little bit, as they each came up for food. We have gotten really good at catching the kids who try to get back in line for a second round and the kids have gotten better about not trying! We had 440 chapati to hand out and ran out just as the last kids were bringing up their plates so we know we served lunch to about 440 kids!
3 comments:
oh man, that's awesome that you named him. man, i miss masese, thats awesome that it was a lot more pleasant this time, and less plushing and screaming.
hi rachel and arielle. ezekiel james is a beautiful name! You missed a good office last night:) love you guys!
when i saw that pic of you rachel i couldnt help but think of katie, as i've seen her wear that but never you. oh man, its late. its like someone photoshopped your head onto it.
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