Arap Nego Is History

Arap Nego may be history...

If a Kipsigis person were to come to my office door he would greet me by saying, "Chamegei, Arap Nego." This was their name for me, Arap Nego, "son of a goat." It has nothing to do with anyone's opinion of my Dad. They branded me with the name because during the first month of our stay in Sotik I told a group of Christians at Chebongi that yesterday I met a man named Arap Nego (Son of a Goat). "There is not a man in all of Kipsigis with such a name," they told me as they laughed. The taught me the correct pronunciation of the name, and added, "from now on Arap Nego is your name." So it was given and so it stuck. Either Arap Nego, or Nego was what they called me.

Really if some Kipsigis person came to my office door, he probably would not call me Arap Nego unless he had known me or heard of me in Kipsigisland. It is not the name on my office door. Neither is it embossed on my business cards. It is a password I often use on computer networks and the name I tell missions students about, but in America no one calls 'Arap Nego'. There is the occasional meeting with Monte Cox, Steve Meeks, or Kevin Kehl. They might call from a distance or from behind me, "Arap Nego." I always hear it. More than hear it, it makes my whole being warm up.