Yay Sisaali names!!

Jordan here: Well, we finally have our Sisaali names. We’d been asking to get a name from our chiefs (Kulfuo’s chief would give Sarah her name and Tarsor’s chief would give me my name) for our names and ceremonies. Finally, one day Osman, my counterpart and assembly man for the 2 communities shows up at our door after Sarah had gone to school and said he had just come from the school. He told me that the chief in Kulfuo wanted to give Sarah her name that day and Tarsor’s chief would give me mine the next morning. Very Ghanaian to come and tell us something like that a couple hours before it happened. So I dropped my afternoon plans (I actually had plans this time) and headed to meet Sarah to be there when they gave her name. We arrived and waited for all the elders (except the actual Kulfuo chief because he can’t really move, being like 100 years old or something) to gather. Then Osman gave a little explanation about us and the elders conversed about what the final decision would be for her name. Then they gave the explanation that since they didn’t even apply for a Volunteer (Tarsor did but since we’re a couple, they got 2 Volunteers instead of just me) they were very lucky to have someone give up so much to come and serve. So it was out of respect for their development that Sarah came to live with them for two years and also, in life, no matter whom you’re with, friend of enemy, you should always give respect. This of course is a value Sarah holds true and always has. Her Sisaali name was then “Zilay werie” which means “respect is always best”. She was super excited and we arranged the elders so she could take the equivalent of a group picture and I snapped it. Then we went with Osman to greet the chief and thank him for the name. After that we jumped on our bikes and rode home. The next morning since Osman said it would start around 9 or 10, the elders were gathered and waiting at his compound at 8am. We quick changed out of our lazy-morning coffee-drinking clothes and into our chief greeting clothes and scuttled over. The ordeal seemed much like the day before. Eventually they gave the explanation that I came to this place not to give away money and not to live like a king and make lots of money. I came to do good work and to teach the community something and to live like them. By doing this and integrating with the community, I gain respect and a respectable reputation to my name. And perhaps after 2 years, all the communities will know me and remember me. Maybe something I plant (ie orchard or tree plantation or something) every time someone will see it they will think, “a white man came here and helped us plant this and take care of it. He was a good man.” In that way, his name is great and he came as a volunteer, not with lots of money. So it came the my name would be “Fenni te dua” which translates to “a good name is better than riches.” Wow, I was thrilled and the more I thought about it, the more I felt it fit me. We came not as paid foreign aid interns, but just to live as part of the community and share our ideas and skills alone. But in life, and when I someday leave it, I don’t want to be remembered as wealthy but as rich in stories, respect, friendship and caring.
We can walk around now and hear people call our names from across a football field’s distance and we call back with a small piece of Sisaali we’ve learned. Everyone thinks the names are great and soon people from both communities will gather at the Junior high school, a central gathering place, and we’ll all celebrate the names with dancing and music and friendship.