ensi news: new help from germany, ensi children performance results, what's in an african name?

7/30/2019 Ensi News: new help from Germany, Ensi children performance results, what's in an African name?

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Ensi

News

Children from five primary

schools: Aliso, Gerhard

Hauptmann, Kettler, Over-

berger and Pestalozzi from

Bergkamen, located in the

north west of Germany,

donated funds to help a

lucky girl stay in education.

This means that from Janu-

ary 2013, another deservingchild will be assured of an

education. This will bring

to 50, the number of chil-

dren and youth supported

by kind benefactors through

Ensi.

Ensi sent a message

of appreciation for the chil-

dren’s kindness through Ms.

Hannelore Nierhoff of the

cultural affairs department

of Bergkamen. The funds

Five schools in Bergkamen, Germany support Ensi child

were channeled through

Adyeri who runs ASK, an

African art and craft shop

in nearby Dortmund. He is

often called upon to talk

about African culture in

local schools.

Most of the sup-

port for Ensi comes from

well-wishers in Germany

and The Netherlands. Our

organization also gets dona-

tions from Canada, Kenya,

Switzerland, Uganda and

the United States of Ameri-

ca. We are most grateful for

this kind support.

Zebras, monkeys and women: What's in a name? by Wandia Kagondu Seaforth

www.ensiwomen.org

[email protected]

Contents

2—What’s in a name?

3—Performance: primary

4—Performance: secondary

―How come there are so

many Wandias?" The ques-

tion came from a seven year old during a meeting of my

extended family. The little

girl had heard the name re- peated no less than six times

with six different people. At

her age, she would have been unlikely to notice all

the duplicated names, but

probably noticed the Wan-

dia because she sat next to

one. The answer to thequestion is a bit complicat-

ed for a seven year old.

In a Kikuyu family,there is a very definite nam-

ing structure. Thus your

name is pre-determined

before you exit the comfort

of your mother’s womb.Children are named alter-

nately after members of the

father's and mother's family

starting with the two sets of

grandparents. Once the

grandparents have been

"born" which is how the

Kikuyu term the re-

incarnations of names, sib-

lings from both sides are

named, following their or-der of birth. Naturally, who

gets to be "born" dependson how many children a

couple has and the distribu-

tion of boys and girls. Theformula can get complicat-

ed - for example, my moth-

er, who had only two sib-lings, both male. When she

went on to produce eight

offspring, six of them girls,she ran out of female names

from her side of the family.The solution was to find out

what would have been the

names of her sisters had she

had any. From my father

side, there was no shortage

of names because he had

many brothers and sisters.

I was named after my fa-ther’s eldest sister, who was

named after their grand-

To support Ensi or sponsor

a child, contact us at

[email protected] in this issue of Ensi News

feature art from ASK



came back. A girl in similar circumstances could be called

"Gachoki or Njoki" which female versions of Muchoki.

Not everybody follows this pattern, some parents deciding

to just name whoever would have been in line if there had

not been the intervening death.

Some names are related to trades and daily activi-ties. This is in common with many other cultures world-

wide, and often reflects the traditional gender division of

labour. For example, the following are names given to

men. Murimi—tiller of land, Murithi—keeper of livestock,Muturi—metal smith, Muguimi—hunter, Muthui—honey

gatherer.

Similar names for women are not very many - two

come to mind; Murugi—guess what, it means the cook,

and Mukami—the one who milks the cows. The Kikuyu names that really intrigue me are those

that correspond to the names of animals. With very

few exceptions, these are names given to men.

Ndegwa—Bull

Mbogo—Buffalo

Ngari—Leopard

Nduiga—Giraffe

Njogu—Elephant Ngatia—Lion

Muruthi—another name for lion

Njoka—Snake (generic name for snake) Njiru—Colobus monkey

Njau—Calf Kagondu—Lamb

Nderi—Eagle

Munyi—Rhino Nganga—Guinea fowl

Women’s names, I can think of only three:

Wambui—Zebra

Ngima—a species of monkey

Theru—a species of monkey

I have turned over in my head many possible expla-

nations for this distribution of names but no con-

vincing explanation emerges. One plausible explanation is

as follows: most of the animals represented in men’s

names denote strength and force - based on physical sizeor other attributes. For the women's names, Ngima and

Theru are two species of rather noisy monkey with highlydeveloped social organization. I am very sure that thishighly developed social organization is attributed to wom-

en. As for Wambui, such a beautiful animal as a zebra can

only give its name to women... but then giraffes, guinea

fowls and colobus monkeys are also quite colorful, so why

is only the zebra’s beauty compared to women’s? One of my friends who comes from a culture that counts a large

behind as one of the attributes of a beautiful woman reck-

ons that this is why Wambui is a woman's name! Well,

you can come up with your own explanation.

… Zebras, monkeys and women: What's in a name? by Wandia Kagondu Seaforth mother. You can imagine that in an extended family meet-

ing, there would be many generations of Wandias, thanks to

this name-giving formula.

How my great grandmother came by the name

Wandia is an interesting story. It was not her grandmother’s

name as you would expect. The story is that she was taken

from a place called Ndia during one of the numerous inter -

ethnic wars that were common about 200 years ago. During

these wars, the winner always took women and cattle as part

of the spoils of war. When my great grandmother was

brought to our place, they named her Wandia. The "Wa"denotes "of" so the name means ―the woman from Ndia.‖ It

is said she was quite happy with my great grandfather. To-

gether they had several children, and thus the name Wandia

was reproduced in our family.

As you can see, Kikuyu names are generally not

assigned for their meaning. However, this is not to say that

they do not have meanings. The name Mumbi is a woman’sname, and very special. In Kikuyu mythology and spirituali-

ty, Mumbi was the first woman and wife to Gikuyu. In ef-fect, she is the mother of all Kikuyus. The name comes from

the verb ―kumba‖ which means to create. Thus it is one of

the attributes of God – Ngai Mumbi means God the creator.It is also the name for a maker of pottery, and interestingly

enough, the name for a uterus is nyungu, which is the samename for a clay pot."

Cases where a name may be given for the meaning

include a child born immediately after one that died. If a boy child dies and the first child born afterwards is a boy, he

could be named "Kariuki or Muriuki" - literally means the

one that resurrected, or "Muchoki" –meaning the one that

2 | Ensi Newswww.ensiwomen.org

[email protected]



3 | Ensi News How did Ensi children perform last term?

Results for Primary 1-3 in order of performance within each grade.

Results for Primary 4-7 in order of performance within each grade.

Last Name Class English Math ScienceSocial

Studies

Average

mark

Position

in class

Children

in class

Mugume Mike Primary 4 70 88 72 83 78 1 113

Katusabe Beatice Primary 4 71 78 78 82 77 5 81

Namara Joan Primary 4 58 67 71 69 66 8 69

Linda Julian Primary 4 74 75 68 45 66 20 84

Tusiime Elizabeth Primary 4 56 54 64 53 57 11 159

Mutegeki Brian Primary 4 52 55 57 49 53

Katusiime Sarah Primary 4 30 60 24 33 37 120

Kobusinge Joan Primary 4 29 37 35 20 30 72 82

Nyaika Elly Primary 5 85 86 85 85 85 1 105

Kembabazi Bridget Primary 5 82 87 79 92 85 2

Kamukama Amuza Primary 5 73 78 67 81 75 2 105

Ndikuwa Brenda Primary 5 75 77 70 73 74 4 105

Atukunda Derrick Primary 5 76 67 86 63 73 6 39

Komuntale Christine Primary 5 74 66 64 86 73 3 126

Kisembo Stephen Primary 5 65 82 65 68 70 2 54

Katinisa Kate Primary 5 58 54 70 63 61 10 69

Omach Emmanuel Primary 5 56 65 50 70 60 7 123

Karungi Tracy Primary 5 79 44 40 60 56 14 126

Kemigisa Joy Primary 5 63 57 53 43 9 123

Kahunde Gloria Primary 5 31 23 18 35 27 72 112

Kamayenje Marvin Primary 6 74 70 81 80 76 3 94

Katwesiime Rose Primary 6 64 78 93 70 76 3 44

Mwijukya Patrick Primary 6 58 59 67 60 61 5 55

Tugumye Grace Primary 7 85 78 88 84 84 1 77

Agondeze Ronald Primary 7 82 80 79 93 84 1 46

Murungi Ismail Primary 7 65 74 69 66 69

Kawino Rashida Primary 7 67 68 62 65 66

Last N ame Class Composition Crafts English MathPhyical

EducationReading

Religious

EducationScience Writing

Average

mark

Position

in class

Children

in class

Kasemiire Irene P 2 85 90 86 100 90 2 83

Kansiime Racheal P 2 86 76 70 75 68 90 78 10 45

Kamukugize Maureen P 3 70 90 88 80 86 96 85 4 92

Kobusinge Monica P 3 60 66 70 80 76 82 72

Kayesu Scovia P 3 82 78 85 50 75 70 62 72

Kemigisa Nahiya P 3 65 18 42 70 25 48 30 43



4 | Ensi News How did Ensi children perform last term?

Senior Secondary 1-4 by performance within each grade; list shown as two tables due to large number of subjects.

One student, Kugonza Edith, did not attend school during the second term due to an eye illness

Senior Secondary 5-6 by performance. Students who pass Senior 6 examinations are eligible to go to university.

Last Name Class HistoryHome

EconomicsLiterature Math Physics

Religious

EducationSwahili

Technical

Drawing

Average

Mark

Position

in class

Children

in class

Wamara Deborah Senior1 81 87 81 82 80

Atugonza Evelyne Senior1 79 82 79 91 78 2 84

Murungi Anthony Senior1 76 79 93 59 86 73 76

Kyahura Micheal Senior1 67 62 67 85 66 7 84

Night Grace Senior1 75 60 68 57 52 65

Nkwanzi Proscovia Senior1 53 46 70 60 63 69 66 63 18 76

Twesige Robert Senior1 43 55 59 86 62 8 402

Nabwire Yvonne Senior1 63 50 40 43 71 45 103 310

Kirungi Fred Senior2 81 45 81 66 83 81 66 7 290

Ssejengo James Senior3 44 51 43 81 56

Nyakahuma Fred Senior4 91 23 70 54

Last Name Class Art Economics EntrepreneurshipGeneral

Paper Geography History

Religious

Education

Average

mark

Asaba Robert Senior 6 41 57 66 50 60 55 Nyamugwa Bernard Senior 6 59 41 48 47 50 49

Secondary School results — term 2 of 2012

Last Name Class Accounts Agriculture Art Biology ChemistryComputer

StudiesCommerce English Entrepreneurship French Geography

Wamara Deborah Senior1 92 97 81 71 50 81

Atugonza Evelyne Senior1 77 94 74 69 56 78

Murungi Anthony Senior1 74 62 72 85 65 51 97 87

Kyahura Micheal Senior1 60 80 56 63 63 61Night Grace Senior1 75 48 49 54 80 83 76 73 60 65

Nkwanzi Proscovia Senior1 59 71 68 58 68 62 64

Twesige Robert Senior1 58 59 64 74 59

Nabwire Yvonne Senior1 25 44 30 36 60 24 78 14 50

Kirungi Fred Senior2 73 66 44 63 67 41 63 43 86

Ssejengo James Senior3 56 65 54 54

Nyakahuma Fred Senior4 78 68 34 52 27 43

ensi news: new help from germany, ensi children performance results, what's in an african name?

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