Humanist

“Eyalama aiwadikayet (thank you for this post). I am just in my early thirties and didn’t ever hear about etal, and this whole naming thing amongst the Iteso. I ended up here because my family is angry at me for giving my children names that are not known for the clan which no one has bothered to explain their meanings,” wrote Okello Herbert Egudo.

Egudo commented so in reaction to my post titled: “Loss of a civilisation – Iteso names and naming practices are vanishing,” in which I included the views and pain of senior women of a village in Serere who were part of a focus group discussion of an empirical study:

“These days, however, you give birth to your child and you walk back alone lere, lere. And that is why these days, if the president comes to visit here, even today, you will see how someone will lift up a child and say: “this is Museveni,” instead of naming the child the father’s name. Parents of these days remove the respect of their parents, grandparents, ancestors, on grounds that they do not like their names – names like “Apulengeria”, which do not sound modern. And this is the case of all Iteso – the ‘educated’, those in urban centres, those in the village, all.” Read more here.

“Anyway, perhaps, our traditions are vanishing because of a lack of sensitization and awareness. Children grow up in boarding school, sadly from Kindergarten all the way up to university in Kampala. Ejasi ireria otaun (homes are in town), and villages are only visited for three days annually – obaga (at Christmas). How did we get here? And how can the younger generation be blamed?” Egudo wonders.

Sadly, as my mentor, colleague and friend, now rested, Change Agent Stan Burkey, also commented on the same post:

“It appears that within a generation or two, Iteso culture will have disappeared. No one will be alive who remembers the customs and rituals.”

A massive loss to the next generation of Iteso for they will lose the connection a name carries rooting you within particular historical narratives and identities.

A name is much more than a legal identity, it is give us our sense of belonging and dignity, rooted within a family history. I pray my mentor’s prediction does not hold true.

I end my wondering how my life without a computer would look like. I would not get to inspire others and connect with others such as Egudo with whom we share a concern for the disappearing Iteso culture.