A Boy Named Nobody

I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me (Isaiah 45:4).

His name was Kakuna. In the chiDuruma language, kakuna can mean many things, including, “I don’t have,” or “there aren’t any. ” In this boy’s case, Kakuna meant Nobody.

I had often seen Kakuna on the edge of the crowds of children that clamored around our house each afternoon. He never drew near. That is until the morning I found him asleep on our front porch. Dressing the world in fresh colors of lemony sunshine, the light dawned quietly over his sleeping form. He lay unmoving, oblivious to the rustlings of women making early trips to the nearby water spout.

I leaned down and gently touched his shoulder. 

“Kakuna?”

Eyes fluttering open, panic filled his face as he focused on me. 

“It’s okay, Kakuna. You are welcome here. Would you like breakfast?”

Without answering, he grabbed his makeshift bedding and scurried away toward the back of the little village compound.

I went inside and made hot milky chai with extra sugar. Grabbing a hunk of bread, I smeared it with a generous layer of butter and strawberry jam. Returning outside, I placed the offering on the edge of the porch. I could hear women and children commenting as they passed. 

“She’s putting out food for Nobody. Does she want to be his new mother?”

I quietly slipped into my house and watched from the screened window. A flash of color in the corner of my eye indicated Kakuna’s return. He grabbed the food and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

Over the coming days and weeks, Kakuna and I became friends. His story came to me from the villagers in bits and pieces, one hushed conversation at a time. His father had died of alcoholism, his mother of AIDS. As the distant cousin of the village father, Kakuna was allowed to dwell on the property but was no one’s responsibility. He was left to fend for himself. No one remembered his birth name.

He had been given the name Nobody by the village children. He belonged, after all, to nobody.

One dusty afternoon he proudly showed my husband and me his little home. In the back of the compound, behind the other mud huts, he had built a small structure similar in size to a small doghouse. With sticks crisscrossed and held together with thin strips of palm, he had erected the walls. Then, with precious water, he made mud to throw in the waffle-design, filling it to bake hard in the hot sun. The roof was constructed with larger palm fronds, dried and bound together. 

He had outgrown his little house.

Our porch became his new home. He refused to sleep inside, with the exception of the monsoon season. A shepherd boy for the village elder’s goats, he took his job very seriously and spent the majority of his days meandering across the gentle hills seeking grass for his flock. 

One day he had the courage to attend our weekly children’s Bible study. We sat around a tremendous drum under the acacia tree and sang about the Messiah. That particular day we were learning that God knows our names, and He calls us to Himself and gives us new names. He gives us a name of honor to replace our old name. The whole time I taught, I noticed Kakuna inching closer to my side.

As I explained that God invites us to become his children and take His name of honor, I felt a hand grip my arm as a small voice cried, “Can Nobody belong to Him?”

There are moments in our lives when we have the indescribable privilege of watching a beloved child run into the arms of God. We see the transformation take place before our very eyes, and for a fleeting moment of ecstasy, we see the love of God in its purest form.

I saw Nobody become Somebody that day. I watched Ashamed become Honored. I witnessed Abandoned become Treasured. 

We are all called by our names, the names we carry right now, into the arms of God. He loves us and beckons to us, whether we acknowledge Him or not. His call to us does not depend on our acknowledgment. It rests solely and fiercely upon His rock-solid love for each of us.

God is calling and He has a new name for all who will answer. #honorandshame #theGodofInstead #CoveredGlory Share on X

It is His own name, a name of glory and honor. We who bear it can walk out of shame with heads held high, for the King of the Universe has called each of us His own beloved child.