I'm very good at beginning things.
My name is Afomia.
I've only met one other Afomia, a seven year old girl who also had no clue what the name meant.
I've had many Tigrays tell me it means "speaker." That always made sense to me. I'm know to be quite loquacious. Plus the root "af" means mouth in Amharic.
Although I'm fluent, I never had the patience to learn the Amharic Fidel. Or else I'd know the story of my name for myself. But, then again, I've always preferred to have stories be told to me. I am an avid audiobook listener -- A trait I inherited from my father. My father's mother, Yeshareg-- or emama Yeshi as we called her-- insisted I be named Afomia. I'm not sure what my parents would have gone with otherwise, but I'm sure it could have been way worse. Not that I dislike my name. I love introducing myself. There's just something about having to repeat it to someone, it like I get to taste all the flavors of each vowel all over again.
I leave to Addis in less than a month. One of my many, MANY, objectives while I'm there is to find out what the story of Kidist Afomia actually is. I've heard many muddled versions of the story of "Kidus Mikael and Kidist Afomia." I want to record someone reading it, and then I will upload it for all the current and future Afomias, in the hopes that it will make them remember, take pride in, or experience for the first time, the richness of our culture.
I'm very good at beginning things, but terrible with follow through. I want to complete this. At least this.
