The M Word

I meant to post about this a while ago, but it slipped my mind. But there's a word in the local creole makonmè. This word denotes the godmother of a child that a man is the godfather of. However, it is very close to another word makoumè (which actually comes from the same French words ma commère). This word is a derogatory term for a gay man, and is more generally used as an insult to any man. So at the baptism party, where I basically knew no one yet because I had a camera I was asked to stay near the godmother (among other important people), you can imagine how unnerving it was to keep hearing this word shouted over and over in my general direction. Eventually, I figured it out, but until I did, I didn't feel very welcome.