Ayaa

I FINALLY found an Acholi dictionary!  Now my language learning will progress tremendously!  It is actually a Lwo dictionary, not an Acholi dictionary, so some word are wrong, but general rules about prefixes and suffixes and indicating possession are correct.  Lwo is the broader language group, and Acholi is more of a local dialect, but the differences can be pretty significant.  Regardless, with my dictionary, I can now say, “Anon buk cok Acoli leb.” Or I finally found a book about Acholi language.

I’m pretty excited about it because my Acholi language classes are frustrating.  Acholis expect you to learn orally, and I need to see a word written before I can really learn it, especially when it is a foreign language. My formal classes are a huge help, but we’re working through a pretty significant language barrier.  Even though our teachers speak English, they speak Africanized British English, so in addition to different words and phrasings, they also cannot understand us unless we use simple words, slow down, and make an effort to enunciate.  This means that we often ask a question and get a response to a different question.  The teachers and students come from different styles of learning, so we American students want charts of prefixes and conjugations, and they are teaching us rote phrases.  Finally, they are teaching us their native tongue, which they never had to learn formally, so something might be spelled amito but pronounced amiro for no particular reason.  There are plenty of frustrating moments and odd translations (such as “So expensive these brassieres why?” instead of “Why does this bracelet cost so much?) where I can practice my new Ugandan attitude and just laugh.

I’ve also learned that Acholi name their children after the situation that they were born into, or their names refer to important events.  This is why there is an Acholi child named Clinton, and Joseph Kony’s son is named George Bush- both after American presidents.  More commonly, they are named for birth circumstances (Oyoo for a male child born on the road, or Adoch to a female child born leg-first).  However, Acholi are also comfortable naming their children things that I would consider deeply private.  Examples:

 Akongo- a female child born to drunkards

Akwero- a girl whose mother is rejected

 Achora- a girl born into a bad marriage

 Komakech- meaning unlucky, given to a male child when one parent suspects the other of cheating

Banya- meaning debt, given to a boy born before his parents’ marriage

Olweny- a boy who was born during war/time of fighting or to parents who like fighting

Anyway, I was able to find a name that fits me- Ayaa, the only girl among many boys J