Mbabazi: to have grace, compassion, or pity

I figure I have lived up to my namesake fully when I receive the same name in another language that means that same as my English one. In most Peace Corps countries, language teachers or coordinators bestow upon the new and naive volunteers names derived from the host country in order to include them in a small part of the culture and to ease the transition into the community. The thought is that if the volunteers have names like the others, they might be perceived more like everyone else. That's the theory at least, although it doesn't help when you forget to introduce yourself with your new name, or forget the name when people try to call you by it. In either case however, most volunteers from my health group were no different and were given Kinyarwanda names, myself included. The name the language coordinators decided best suited me was Mbabazi. Although I got many different translations for what this name truly meant, as Rwandans tend to have many explanations and versions of a solitary thing, the general definition of mbabazi came out to be; one who has compassion or pity, grace.

In most cases this would be an honored and respected name. Our given Rwandan names were based on the characteristics the coordinators saw most in us. In fact, most Rwandan names in general have a similar idea, encompassing a religious theme but also taking on the description of the family. I am glad my coordinators found such characteristics in me, but I find it slightly more curious that they happened to choose a name that is almost identical to my English name. Even though Rwandan names tend to carry more actual meaning and English names seem to be more symbolic about their origins, the idea that my two names matched seems ironic. My English name, Kerry, supposedly means one who has compassion. Call it coincidence or my true nature showing through, who knows really. Now I just have to remember to introduce myself as Mbabazi Kerry, and remember to respond if they call me.