The kuncho

Reading Cutting for Stone a couple of weeks ago, I ran across this passage, which describes the hairstyle I saw occassionally on kids in Ethiopia: 

A toddler with railroad tracks of snot connecting lip to mouth watched with envy. Its head had been shaved to leave a traffic-island tuft in front; Hema was told when she first came to Ethiopia that this strange haircut was so that if God chose to take that child (and he took so many), the tuft gave him a handle by which to lift it to heaven.  

Right after reading this, by one of those strangest coincidences — you know, when you have something on your mind or first learn about something, it seems to pop up everywhere — I was arranging my bookshelf and randomly flipped open my Amharic dictionary to the page that had following definition:

“kuncho:” hairstyle, shaved with tuft on top (on children)

There. Cool. Suddenly, right after reading about it, I knew what the style is called. I wonder, though, did I notice this word because I had just read the passage in the Verghese book? But still, how did I happen to open to that page with “kuncho” when I moved the dictionary? The interconnectedness of it all is fascinating. 

I took these two pictures outside of Awassa. On the top picture, looks like the baby’s mom perhaps has twirled the hair into a little “kuncho.” The boy on the bottom picture has the whole deal going on.

In others news, I’m running Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday. Both of my brothers, my parents, and a collection of relatives will be there, as it is always a big family event. My dad injured his foot falling off the ladder a couple of weeks ago (the ladder fall is nearly a yearly event as well), so he’s been advised not to run this year. Too bad. The kids are SO excited to go camping, eat some s’mores, roast hot dogs, hang out on the rocks of Lake Superior and listen to the foghorns. I’m very nervous about the run, of course. I’ll check in after the ‘thon. Have a great weekend!