The Namesake

This week was a special week for us. After months of waiting, we finally welcomed the newest member of Krochet Kids into the world. Mary, one of our crocheters, went into labor while she was crocheting in the hut, walked out, and headed home without a word. I was in the hut at the time and thought that she was just tired and needed to go home early. It’s funny how nonchalant she has been during her entire pregnancy, but not surprising I guess, because Acholi women are some of the strongest, toughest women in the world!

We called Mary to ask if we could come visit yesterday (just a few days after the birth) and she was very excited to have us. We have yet to visit all the ladies’ huts but we knew the general direction of their village, so we “footed” (walked) in that direction, hoping to run into any one of our ladies to get further directions to Mary’s hut. Sure enough, we caught sight of 3 of our ladies outside, crocheting on a papyrus mat. They were so excited and surprised to see us. We told them we were here to see Mary and the new baby, and of course they invited us into their huts first to have some warm soda (the Acholi culture is one of incredible hospitality). In Alice’s hut we were introduced to a chubby baby named Robison. I love chubby babies.



He was somehow related to Alice so she was taking care of him….and boy was he just precious. Well, he was precious until he peed all over me, but lucky for me, he saved his #2 for Alice’s lap. It reminded us that we are not quite ready for kids. While we were in Alice’s hut Mary burst in to tell her to be on the lookout for us, she was so surprised to see us in there that she screamed and screamed. I have never seen her with so much energy, and this just a few days after giving birth. We quickly visited a few other huts and made our way to Mary’s hut to meet the baby.



Sure enough we came to find that the rumors were true, the little boy’s name was Travis. We had joked with Mary that if it was a boy it would be Travis and a girl would be Leah, but we didn’t actually think she would go through with it, especially because Travis is extremely hard to pronounce over here. Most of his friends will probably call him Trevor when he gets older. It was so special to hold him and see his tiny little fingers and toes. It has been a long time since we’ve been around such a newly born babe. We are so thrilled that both momma and baby are healthy and happy.