Solomé Goshu writing in This is Africa:
My father’s ultimate lesson was this: Give your children “difficult” names. So the world may learn to unfurl its tongue and bow to all the languages they stole along with our brothers and sisters. This is the revolution in our names.
Himba Pride – Kamanjab, Ethiopia. Photo © Habari Productions
I think about the revolution raging in my gut. The one my father ignited the day he took me on his lap as a six year old, and made me promise to question everything I am taught. To be cautious of the irrational, no matter how seductive. To shun assimilation posturing as civilisation. To never forget where it originated from, to remember the nubian Egyptians who taught democracy to the ancient Greeks. To never degrade myself or my culture in the name of westernisation. To seek out reason and love for myself always. To chant Atse Tewodros, Yodit Gudit, Yaa Asantewaa, Steve Biko, Kwame Nkrumah, Miriam Makeba, Madiba, Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara and the many more names he drilled into my psyche every time I feel isolated from my power.More here