Deliya is a popular song in Mauritania and every time I tell people my name they start singing it. Even my taxi driver this morning started busting it out! People always ask me my "real" name because they can not believe that Delia is also a name in the United States.
Coincidentally, I was named after a different Delia song. This one was recorded by Blind Willie McTell many years ago. My parents liked the name and I have also learned love it. I am thankful for this gift from my parents. As a kid growing up, there were no other Delia's and I always felt like my different name made me different too. I am proud to have a different name but at the same time for the first time I am now enjoying having a name that is known and appreciated by everyone around me. It makes me feel like I belong here.
In the village where I visited last week the children sang the Deliya song all the time. It became my soundtrack. The words say, "Deliya, my Deliya." The name Deliya is a Fulani fable, a sort of cinderella story. I have asked many people to recite the story for me and it is always told almost the exact same way, from villages far and wide across Fouta Toro (the region of Senegal and Mauritania).
Listening to these little cuties singing the Deliya song is one of my happiest memories of my time in Mauritania.
Thank you Marlow! Your pictures are lovely.
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