All in the Family

Religious worship and practice has been a hugely prevalent and visible part of life here in Moundou. I've read that about 70-80% of the population is Christian, and it seems to me that the vast majority of those people can be categorized as Evangelical. I don't want to give away too much yet, because I have a post pending about attending our my family's church, Eglise 8. However, I will let you in on a little fun fact that relates!

 When I meet a new person and ask their name, they will either give me the long version or the short version, as people might do anywhere. Usually, when it's the long version, I have trouble catching it or being able to repeat it back to them, which is typically what I try to do just to confirm that I've heard someone. However, when I get the short version it is often a familiar Christian name that I can identify if I allow for the pronunciation to be a bit different.

 As I've mentioned previously, my host mother and father are named Christine and Samuel. It didn't go unnoticed that my brother is also named Samuel. Since then, my host mother has had a lot of fun putting together some additional connections. From the beginning, she has talked a lot about her younger sister, who has passed away, named Madeleine. Furthermore, my host father has a brother or cousin named Philip and an older brother, deceased, who was named Isaac. In addition, my host sister is named Mary Rose but she actually has four names, one of which is Elizabeth. Therefore, Mama Kiri says, my family is the States is right here in my Chaddian family. Unfortunately, I haven't stumbled across any Sages, Roberts, Annas, Delaneys, Emmas, or Romas, but I have 9 more months here and I'm pretty sure if I dig deep enough into the the layers of everyone's names I will be able to find them somewhere!