A bit about names...

Mozambique is a diverse place!  Indians have been here forever, and now with the Chinese pouring into invest all over Africa, there has been a huge influx of Chinese into the country.  Not to mention, there are many Europeans, mostly Portuguese, who have hung on since independence, and others who work for aid organizations, donors, embassies, etc.  That said, Mozambicans have been exposed to new cultures more in the last 20 years than every before. 

This has created some very funny misunderstandings regarding names from all those different cultures... names that Mozambicans aren't used to.  For example, there is a little Chinese boy at Elio's school.  When I asked teacher Ana, who speaks English very well, what this boy's name is, she said, "Oh, his name is Someone."  "Someone?" I questioned.  "Yes, that is what his parents say he name is."  Teacher Ana didn't seem to think this was out of the ordinary.  Then, when I arrived at the school a couple of days later to drop Elio off, Ana explained that she had been mistaken about Someone's name.  Apparently Someone's parents had gotten upset when they heard the Mozambican staff at the school calling him Someone.  After all, his name is Sam Wong.  But the parents' accents must be pretty thick and I am sure the Mozambican staff are wholly unaccostumed to names like this, so Sam Wong's parents had to write his name down for all the teachers so they could see the difference bewteen Someone and Sam Wong.  But in Portuguese, words don't end in g and words that end in m make an ng sound, so this was quite a stretch for many of the teachers.  From what I can see, they continue to call him Someone when his parents aren't there. 

The foreign names that Mozambicans choose put together also provide some fuel for a good laugh.  I have a colleague at Save the Children named Aguinaldo, which is a pretty good name inself, Aguinaldo Santana.  17 years ago, Aguinaldo and his wife Jamila had a son they decided to name Filkadafi.  Say it out loud.  Aguinaldo loves Phil Collins.  He loves Elton John too, but not as much as Phil.  Everytime I have to drive somewhere with him, he blares "Another Day in Paradise."  Aguinaldo also thinks that Moammar Kadafi is one of the most intelligent and exemplary leaders in the history of Africa and in the modern world.  So he named his child Filkadafi, but he doesn't go by Fil or Kadafi, it's Filkadafi.  And let's not forget that his last name is Santana, so it's Filkadafi Santana.
Anyway, since some people have asked me to post some photos about our life and friends, here are a few...


Nalia and her friends from school: Clara, Olivia and Irati.  Clara is half Brazilian and half Belgian.  Olivia is Danish, adopted from Ethiopia, and Irati is half Tanzanian and half Spanish (Basque).



At the pool!



Elio calls these his swimming glasses.