I have officially been given my rwandanese name - UWINEZA - which means "person who does good everyday" in kinyarwanda. Goodness picked my name which I thought was really nice and gave it extra meaning, since I am his mom. In the Rwandan culture, you are given your name based on the personality. Many people have a western name; such as, Tim, Benjamin, etc but they are also given a name within the first eight days of life that seems to reflect their personality. (I could be wrong on the eight days but I know I read that somewhere...maybe in Left to Tell). Also, according to Maurice, many Rwandanese do not carry the last name of their father or mother...instead they are just given a name. Not sure if that is in all families but I thought that was quite interesting. And, last tidbit of info, daughters don't count as children. If you are a father of all daughters some consider you childless (more in rural areas) AND, to this day, females have chores they must finish in the morning and males do not! WTF.
Anyway, the above doesn't reflect all Rwandanese families but some so I thought I would share.
many, many hugs.
UWINEZA
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