Lebitso la ka ke Palesa. In Lesotho, all names are taken from Sesotho words – my name, Palesa, is the word for flower. Like in the US, there are common names, but there are many grammatical variations of the same Sesotho word which makes names often confusing. For example, “Kea leboha”, meaning “I thank you” can be made into the name “Relebohile” (We gave thanks) or “Lebohang” (the place of thankfulness) but both essentially mean thankful. When women get married and have children, they change their first names, often to reflect their child’s name , to create names with the prefix ma- (mother of -) “Marelebohile” or “Malebohang” (mother of thankfulness). Mothers don’t have to name themselves after their child, but it is common to do so. Also, the prefix ma- is one of respect, so even some girls are named a word with the prefix. Regardless, the possibilities of names seem to be endless.
This past week at school, I gave my students the opportunity to compete in a writing competition for a literary festival that PCV’s are involved with. They were given an hour to answer: “if you could give yourself a new Sesotho name that would best describe yourself, what would it be and why?” Overall, I think the topic was very difficult to elaborate on even though the participants were the best students from each class – most students basically wrote “I would name myself Khotso which means Peace because I am a peaceful person…” or variations of that. But the students seemed to try their best and it was nice to get an insight into their thoughts.
Most of the students chose names that completely reflected their personalities. One girl, who always says hello to me with a cheerful smile, chose the name “Kethabile”, which means I am happy. Two boys, Thuto and Tumahole who come to the library every day, sit next to each other in the front of the classroom, and raise their hands at each question, chose the names “Bohlale” (intelligence) and “Thuto” (education), respectively. I was also happy to read about Tumahole choosing the name of his classmate who he wrote he looks up to because he always remembers his homework and is a hard worker. Sometimes I am worried about the students not having anyone, but am so proud that Tumahole, as an at risk orphan, has found a friend that he can trust and who is a positive role model.
Other students suprised me with the names they chose. One boy, chose “Litebello” (ambitious) and wrote about all of the things that he wants to accomplish. Another girl chose “Tsepo” (hope) because she had a single mother who worked hard to pay for school and had put her hope into her daughter. Another girl chose the name “Nese” (technically not a Sesotho word, but means nurse) because she wanted to help the people suffering with AIDS/HIV and teach student life skills. But the composition that touched me the most was written by one of my best students who chose the name “Mali-Mabe”, meaning bad luck. She went on to tell about the death of both of her parents, her moves from one house to another and other various events in her life. Interview questions like “describe yourself in one word” or “what is your biggest weakness” are questions that we have become used to, but this type of self reflection was refreshing to see in these students who are not used to that.
Especially with the language barrier, students are often very shy to have real conversations with me but through these papers, I learned things about my students, good and bad, that I would never have known otherwise. And seeing them open up through their writing was more than I could have asked for.
Good to see Palesa as a verb.