It's not that people aren't friendly -- they're wonderfully friendly, that's one of the things we love about Uganda. It's just a little tricky to be on a first-name basis because, well, how do you know what the first name IS?
Today I met a young woman who introduced herself as Pheona. But when she gave me her business card, I saw it read "Nabasa Pheona Gladys." Ummmm...if she hadn't told me her name, how would I have guessed at addressing her?
Names here are different. There's a family or tribal name, which often is written first but not always; and there's usually a "Christian" name; and there may be one or two other names. Here are some names exactly as they appeared on a sign-in list at the workshop Theresa and I conducted last week:
Bwogi Buyera John
Fred Turyakira
Kakuruga Fred
Ebenezer Bifubyeka
In other words, it's inconsistent. And it's not just how they write their names. Once a New Vision reporter whose byline reads "John Eremu" called me on the phone and greeted me by saying "This is Eremu John."
Many people here have addressed me as "Mr. Bill" -- because the fact that "Bill" comes first must signify it is the family name. And this explains our favorite driver Elias's little joke. One day he asked me: Are you related to the president? I blanked for a second and then realized: Bill Clinton -- Bill Ristow. We must be in the same family, or at least the same tribe. Very amusing, Elias!
There's quite a bit more on this name business, but I'll leave that to Theresa. Oops -- I mean Ter-ay-za.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
indeed uganda is a very friendly country. everybody knows everybody, not like over here in surrey, where i don't even know my next door neighbour. i travelled to uganda last year on safari with https://www.kariburwanda.com, and loved every minute of my safari. hoping to go bird and gorilla watching this october and just cannot wait.this is truly the pearl of africa.
Post a Comment