About
Why "thomazeau" ?
What's with the name thomazeau ? What does it stand for ?
Well, "thomazeau" is my nickname in Haiti. Actually, they call me "kabrit thomazeau". Why is that ?
Literally, Thomazeau is a small town in Haiti, not too far from the border with the Dominican Republic. But the real reason why I'm called by that name is because of a popular Haitian Creole proverb. It goes like this:
Nou se kabrit thomazeau,
Mem plim,
Mem plimaj
It means once translated, that we are all little goats from the town of Thomazeau, we all have the same skin, we all have the same fur. Its symbolic meaning is that we are all humans from one family, brothers and sisters, no matter what we look like.
The Haitians have a very colourful way of expressing thoughts with beautiful short sayings or proverbs taken from daily life. Many of them are based on animals, rivers or common objects. There are literally over 1,000 proverbs commonly used here.
As missionaries in Haiti, Marie & I learned that to be able to teach Bible truths to people we meet in Haiti, it is mandatory to learn the language of the people. We both spoke French, and even though French is considered one of the official languages spoken here, the language of the heart, the one that all Haitians express their emotions in, is Haitian Creole. We made it our goal to learn and speak Creole correctly, right from the time we arrived in our assignment. We began to discover the beautiful proverbs that the Haitians would use to express themselves. In our first years of missionary life in Haiti, Marie & I tried to learn as many creole proverbs as possible.
The day that I learned the "thomazeau" proverb, I wrote it down on a piece of paper, kept it in my pocket, and kept repeating it in order to learn it well. That very same day, I found myself in front of a group of government officials and police officers at the border crossing point between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I could see them looking at me, wondering who this "stranger" was, probably asking themselves what I was doing there. Noticing the look on their faces, I walked over to them, and with a smile on my face said, "Nou se kabrit thomazeau, mem plim, mem plimaj".
So surprised to hear me not only speak creole, but to use this proverb, they got up, hugged me and shook my hand, showing that I was one of them. From that day on, I was baptised "kabrit thomazeau". For over 15 years I have been going to that border crossing point to collect Bible based literature for our teaching work in Haiti. Everybody there, the Immigration and Customs officials, the police officers, the truck drivers and even the ladies selling food; they all call me "kabrit thomazeau".
So, that is why I chose "thomazeau" to be the name associated with my web site.
List of some Haitian Creole proverbs and their English equivalent on WikiQuote