Morning Musa, Sunday Akongo, Stella Night. Susan Ikanga. Vionzy Keji. The MBB Scholars in South Sudan are beautiful young women whose names roll off the tongue like poetry. But many
names also tell stories revealing the hardships surrounding their birth:
“I am called Forest because I was born while my mother was
running, fleeing the war, and so I came into this world in the thick forest
where she was hiding.”
“I am called “Abandoned” because my family abandoned my
mother, since the children she birthed previously had died. When I was born no
one wanted to come near to help her. Finally, an old woman befriended us and
took us into her hut for six months until we were strong….”
“My name means “Substitute” because I was born after my two
older siblings died in childbirth…”
My parents named me “Unlucky.” I think my parents chose this name because it
was a time of conflict and hunger and so I was one more child to feed.
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