We Need New Names

Darling bathes and prepares to go to church. She detests going to church, which is held atop Fambeki mountain, because it’s boring. Also, Prophet Revelations Bitchington Mborro shook her and made her vomit the last time she went. He thinks—as do others—that her grandfather’s ghost is inhabiting Darling. Darling’s grandfather was killed before she was born for harboring people that the white government saw as traitorous. Darling thinks that white men who stole their land are stupid because they tried to steal something large when the smart thing is to steal something small so that no one knows you’ve stolen it.

Darling’s friends come to get her to play a game called Andy-over, but she’s bathing, and Mother of Bones shouts at her friends to leave. Mother of Bones watches over Darling while her mother is away selling things at the border. Her mom is sometimes gone for very long stretches of time. Darling gets dressed while Mother of Bones counts large stacks of now worthless money, which is a ritual she does every day. While Mother of Bones does this, Darling looks at pictures on the wall. There’s one of her father in a cap and gown. Her father left for South Africa and doesn’t send them letters, money, or food, so Darling tries not to think about him. There’s a picture of Jesus, which Darling got in trouble over because she colored his blue eyes black so that he’d look like a real person. There’s a picture of her cousin Makhosi, who returned from mining diamonds with ruined hands and later left for South Africa. Under the bed, hidden in an old Bible, is a picture of her grandfather who was killed. Although no one talks about him, she thinks her grandmother talks to him when she is muttering.

Darling has tried time and again to get Mother of Bones to throw the suitcase of money away, especially now that they will start using American money. But Mother of Bones knows that they can’t get American money, and she’s hurt by the fact that she can’t use money she’s earned, so much so that “you can see the pain on her face now, like something inside her is breaking and bleeding” (27).

Darling walks behind Mother of Bones as they head to church. Mother of Bones greets everyone, including the men of the shantytown who just play draughts all day and ignore everyone else. Mother of Bones waves at people at Vodloza’s shack, but she doesn’t speak because it is a healer’s place. People are lined up, plagued with sickness. When they pass the playground, Darling’s friends yell at her, even though they know they’re not supposed to. They remind her that the NGO people will arrive the following week. She then sees Bornfree and Messenger hanging up posters for a political party. They wear matching shirts that say “Change.”

Although Darling’s friends join the two in singing and chanting about change, Mother of Bones warns Darling about their actions, saying, “What do they think they are doing yanking a lion’s tail don’t they know that there will be bones if they dare?” (31-32).

They reach Fambeki and must walk up to where church is being held. Mother of Bones begins singing so that others can see how holy she is, while Darling notes how the sun beats down menacingly on them all. Prophet Mborro moved the church up onto the mountaintop a while back, perhaps to be closer to God. There are a few people already there, which angers Mother of Bones because she likes to be first. Darling sits with the children, though she doesn’t speak to them. Chipo is there as well. When someone gives Darling a baby to watch, Darling makes faces at the baby, and when it doesn’t cry, she then pinches it until it does. Then the woman comes and takes her child away. The service begins, with Prophet Mborro shouting and sweating, and the congregation entranced by his words. Then offering is taken, and sinners are prayed for. Suddenly, a woman’s scream is heard from down the mountain. A group of men rush up to the congregation with a thrashing woman in their grip. Darling notes how beautiful the woman is and feels sorry for her. She’s shouting for them to leave her alone, and Prophet Mborro begins praying for demons to come out of her. He then gets on top of her and continues shouting until the woman quiets down, seemingly tired and defeated.

Darling does not want to look at the woman’s shamed, defeated face. Chipo, who has been mute since getting pregnant, then whispers in Darling’s ear that her grandfather did the very same thing to her, getting on top of her and pinning her down like the prophet is doing to the woman. Darling wants to laugh because this is the first time that Chipo has spoken in a while, but she notes how serious Chipo looks: “I watch her and she has this look I have never seen before, this look of pain” (43). Because she is confused and doesn’t know what to say to Chipo, she simply asks if she wants to go steal guavas.

Darling and her friends go to a town called Shanghai, which is even bigger than Budapest. The town is normally too far for them to go to, but Sbho’s grandmother MaS’banda asked them to go tell a man named Moshe that she wants to talk to him. Shanghai is filled with Chinese men in yellow uniforms and large machines breaking up the ground, while the African men are in their ordinary clothes—shorts and shirts with holes in them as well as sandals or shoes. The children don’t look at the men much because they aren’t the adults that they would normally be but sad-looking workers. They finally begin shouting for Moshe, until one of the workers tells them that Moshe left for South Africa a few days earlier. Bastard thinks Moshe did the right thing, leaving instead of working like a pig.

The group of friends sees a tent and goes to peer inside. Suddenly, a fat Chinese man comes out and begins shouting at them in Chinese. They call him Fat Mangena, and though neither can understand the other, they make fun of him for yelling at them as if they’re supposed to understand Chinese, as if his language is now their national language. The man is obviously in charge, as a subordinate in a yellow uniform comes up and begins asking them questions in English. They learn that a mall is being built that will house designer stores. They then ask for hand-outs. The last time they were in Shanghai, they received bags with trinkets and gifts, though all of it broke or fell apart in no time. The bag also had fortune cookies in it (though they don’t know the name of them). Darling’s said, “Your future will be happy and productive,” while Chipo’s read, “If I bring forth what is inside of me, what I bring forth will save me” (48). Darling’s mom brought her shoes once that were made in China too, and the shoes also fell apart quickly like the items in the bags. The men tell them that they must work now if they want gifts. Once the group grows bored and realizes that they won’t receive gifts, they leave while hurling insults at the men until one of the workers, a large man who could seriously hurt them, steps in their way and causes them to leave quietly.

Back in Paradise, the group tries to play a game where China is a red devil, but they grow bored of trying to figure out the rules for the game and begin playing country-game. The game is comprised of an inner and outer circle. One child stands in the inner circle, while the outer circle is broken up into different countries. Everyone wants to be a country-country, like USA, Britain, or Australia. No one wants to be a lesser country, like North Korea or an African country. When the child in the inner circle calls out, everyone runs away until he or she tells them to stop. If the child in the inner circle can hop three times and reach them, that country is knocked out of the game. If the child can’t reach anyone, he or she is knocked out of the game. Darling gets to be USA, which is what everyone wants to be. She feels like she deserves it because “it’s my country now because my aunt Fostalina lives there, in Destroyedmichy-gen” (51). In the middle of playing, they see the NGO lorry as it races to town.

The children are excited about the lorry and want to chase after it, but they know the NGO people hate this behavior, so they wait impatiently until it passes Fambeki and arrives at the playground. The truck is late, as it was supposed to arrive a month earlier. The kids love when the truck arrives because they get presents, while the adults get food. The children sing and dance to impress the workers, who finally arrive. There are three white people, a driver, and Sis Betty, who is native to the area. Sis Betty translates for the two sides, and then the white people, like always, begin taking pictures. Darling notes that white people never care that they don’t want their pictures taken, that they are dirty and embarrassed, they just always take pictures. They snap photos of Godknows with his buttocks peeking through his pants due to rips and take tons of photos of Chipo because she’s pregnant.

Finally, it’s time for gifts. The children try to line up patiently but lose their cool with anticipation. Sis Betty has to order them in their language to stop acting up and embarrassing themselves. They receive their gifts, and then the adults receive food. Only MotherLove refuses aid. Sis Betty and others call out to her to receive her share, but she stands there proudly, then turns around and leaves, ignoring everyone. The kids then watch the lorry leave in a profound moment of sadness that’s soon tinged with irony:

Now that the lorry is gone-gone, we do not scream anymore. We are quiet as graves, sad like the adults coming back from burying the dead. Then Bastard says, Let’s go and play war, and then we take off and run to kill each other with our brand-new guns from America (59).