In Cape Town's Company Gardens hidden in a shaded corner is a small bamboo grove. On the other end of the Company Gardens is Gardens Commercial High School. For the young pupils of this school this bamboo grove has become a traditional space to affirm your existence and proclaim your social relationships.
One's name is a symbol for oneself, and seeing something that represents this in the outside world helps one think about their place in it. Carving one's name on something is an act of externalising this internal conflict.
The child is asking himself, "Who am I, really?"