"Tigist"

Thought from Brad

One thing that I really like about the Ethiopian culture is that all the names have meaning.  As our kids joined our family we tried to give them names with meaning and with 4 names each it was not difficult to find some meaning.  Here in Ethiopia a child is only given one name and their father’s name is basically their last name, so much thought is given when choosing their one name.  One of the questions I ask when I first meet someone here in Ethiopia is, ‘what is the meaning of your name?’  There is always a story behind the name and it is a great way to get to know someone.  My favorite story was a friend that said he grew up with a boy with last name Jib (hyena in Amharic) because apparently, when his grandmother was giving birth to his father a hyena broke into the house.  Kids are named after football (soccer) clubs like Chelsey and Arsenal, and other significant events.  One of the most popular names here is Tigest, and when I first asked the meaning it made lots of sense.  Tigest is the Amharic word for patience.  In our short time here we have learned lots of patience.  Weather it is in the day to day trying to juggle habesha (Ethiopians tend to be 15 min – 2 hours late for most things) and ferengie (foreigners tend to be 15 min early for most things) time, or dealing with the fact that appointments are only made to be cancelled or forgotten, there is always a need for patience.  We are currently in need of a great deal of patience as we wait for our visa to be renewed and work permits to be granted.  If we were required to deal with this at the beginning of our time here I don’t think we could have handled it, however by God’s grace I think the past 5 months our patience has grown a ton and we are able to take it in stride.

I never felt that this blog was finished a month ago when the above was written and ready to post.  Our patience was stretched for another month, but we finally have our temporary residence cards.  I would like to say that we took it all in stride to the end, but a miscommunication the last day at immigration almost had me escorted to the airport to be deported.  We can laugh about it now, but it was certainly a high stress moment.  God is good and we thank and praise Him for His not always so enjoyable refining process that helps us grow in patience.