Tree of Nations, Family Trees

Today was our last English class for the semester, completing a full year since we opened the doors of the Sudekum Homes ESL classroom. To mark it, we created a fun art project focusing on the beauty of our different heritages (click on images to enlarge) My inspiration was Revelation 22:2:"On each side of the river stood the tree of life . . . And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." The result? A tree of nations whose trunk (from bottom to top) is a collage of feet, then hands, then mouths, then noses, then eyes, and finally faces of all ages, colors and shapes. The branches are full of praying people from all cultures. The leaves were decorated by each of our students and volunteers. It was so interesting to observe the unfolding creativity of a group with little prior experience using simple art supplies like decorative paper, scissors and glue, stamps and markers!

We also created a wall full of family trees, that compare the way American and Somali Bantu families name their children. Part of that wall contains posters of the 12 generations of my ancestors, the "Everetts," since they came to America from England around 1630. I happen to belong to the 12th (and last) generation of this branch of Everetts, since the sisters and male cousins didn't produce heirs to the name . . . oh well.

Somali Bantu families aren't concerned with surnames or "Henry the VIIIs"--they had no written birth records until they fled to Kenya, so the way they name their children helps them track their generations quite easily . . . some can quote ten or more generations on both sides! Here's how their names work . . .
1. Choose a first name (maybe, Hawa for a girl, Salah for a boy)
2. The middle name is always the first name of the father (if Farah, she will be Hawa Farah ____; he will will be Salah Farah ___)
3. The last name is always the first name of the grandfather (perhaps, Ali). So . . . little Hawa Farah Ali will always keep her same name, even after she marries. Her brother, Salah Farah Ali , will also keep his same name; and each of his children will become ________ Salah Farah. . . the great-grandfather's name is dropped). Follow?

Neither can most Americans! [Now remember, interculturalists, "different isn't necessarily wrong, it's just . . . different."] After an excruciatingly tedious exercise of changing all 12 generations of the Everett line to their Somali Bantu forms (click on top picture), my name had become Elaine Charles Willard (vs. Elaine Everett Atchison--my parents tried to retain the family name by not giving us a middle name). In the end, my little grandson's name became David David David! The class thought that was hilarious, but don't think a thing about having a child named Mohamed Mohamud Mahamed . . . . oh well, every name is beautiful in it's own way!