Learning one another's names | Perkins Fellow Megnot Abebe '25

Names are powerful. As someone with an Amharic name, where the -gn- in Megnot is not a common sound in English, I know the struggle of professors and others mispronouncing my name. I used to think that repeating my name multiple times for others around me to learn was a burden I would always carry. Until people whom I would later call friends took the time and effort to learn it, I now interpret it as a gesture of love.

This year as a Perkins Fellow, I had the chance to partner with Abundant Life Ministries and tutor kids in elementary school. As the year began, I was nervous–it was hard enough to say my name to adults, let alone kids. But I didn’t need to be. As we spent our afternoons playing tag and basketball at Johnson Elementary during outside time, I learned each of their names–which took time–and they learned mine. We got to share inside jokes and laughter, snacks, some tears, and share about our families and life. They reminded me what it was like to be a kid, to have genuine joy about playing outside. On Fridays, during Bible Club, they reminded me that there are parts of the Bible I don’t fully understand but that I can still tell and remind them how loved they are (1st John 4:10). One aim of the Perkins Program is to develop hearts of service and have vocational discernment, but the Lord blessed me with something bigger through Abundant Life. He blessed me with a community that knew me. Not only through the kids but through the staff at Abundant Life that embody what it means to love one another and serve a community they're part of. He blessed me through Grace Jackson and Ben Barnes, my fellow volunteers, who encouraged me and reminded me that we don't have to do this alone.

I have learned that the pursuit of justice needs to be done in community and in love, which I think can be summed into the power of proximity. Jesus didn’t do His ministry alone; He had His 12 disciples. Along the way, He crossed social and cultural barriers to know and love those around Him. He showed us what it meant to live life not for ourselves but for the Lord and His Kingdom. The apostle Paul paints a powerful picture of a united body in 1st Corinthians 12:12-27; "if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (v.26, ESV). It should remind us of the simplicity and the power of drawing closer to one another, of loving one another. Choosing to be part of Abundant Life was choosing to partner with God and the workers and be proximate to the Prospect Ave community in Charlottesville. It was choosing the time to carve out of my schedule and try to love the kids and staff I interact with well, reminding me that we are all His Beloved.