Category: Other

Now that I have become a mother, my entire identity has changed in Tanzania. A Tanzanian woman’s identity is wrapped up in her children, so much so that her name changes with the birth of her first child. I am now known as “Mama Grace.” Tanzanians pay a whole lot more attention to me now…which could be because my baby is brown…but also because I have a baby at all. Checkers at the grocery store where I shop have seen me for a year and never paid much attention to me; now they always address me as “Mama Grace” and ask about her, even if she’s not with me.