He knows my name… but we don’t know theirs

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In the beginning of June we accepted two groups of new students into the PEACE program. One set of boys gave us a particular challenge. They had just come from Myanmar to stay with a relative and go to school. They can only speak Burmese and Pho Karen while Pring can speak Skaw Karen, so we knew it would be a challenge to communicate with them. In their application they each had a formal Thai name but no nickname so we practiced their Thai names leading up to their first day with us. 

Turns out that even though they have formal Thai names they didn’t know their own Thai names. So, we had nothing to call them. Pring asked their names in Karen and they were so different to anything we’ve ever heard before, because they were Burmese/Pho Karen, neither of us could understand, pronounce or remember them.  I let it slide for about half the class and just kind of pointed or indicated which of the boys I was calling on. After awhile, I knew we couldn’t go on like this without having a name to call them by that we all understood. So, I got out a poster we have that has around 100 different animals on it. Pring helped them understand to pick an animal. The one chose Penguin and the other chose Alligator which we later shortened to Gator. There was another boy in the group from the village that we both knew and he can speak Thai, etc… however, seeing his new friends chose an animal he wanted to choose one too, so he chose Hippo. 

It’s been about 6 weeks since they started with us, they’ve also been in the Thai schools so have learned their Thai names and are starting to be able to ask to drink water and go to the bathroom in Thai. However, when they come to study with us they are still known as Penguin and Gator. 

In the Bible we’re often reminded that God knows our name, and that he formed us and calls us. When we’re in relationship with people it’s important to know their names, especially when you’re teaching them. Maybe someday we’ll learn these boys’ proper names, or maybe they’ll forever be known as Penguin and Gator, but at least now they know who we’re talking to and they even call each other by their new nicknames. 

John 10:3 

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.