World Kiswahili day comes up this 05 July, next Friday.
1. Two Articles that made me write again
Article 1
2024 Edition of World Kiswahili Language Day[1]
This year, World Kiswahili Language Day will be celebrated on 05 July 2024 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris under the theme "Kiswahili: education and culture of peace".
Kiswahili is one of the most widely used languages of the African family, and the most widely spoken in Africa South of the Sahara. It is among the 10 most widely spoken languages in the world, with more than 230 million speakers. The General Conference of UNESCO, at its 41st session in 2021, proclaimed 07 July as World Kiswahili Language Day, in recognition of the global relevance of Kiswahili as a language of global communication built in the daily life of Africans and in constant multicultural enrichment.
The celebrations for the 3rd World Kiswahili Language Day, chaired by the Permanent Delegation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will take place on 5 July 2024 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, under the theme: "Kiswahili: education and culture of peace".
Expected results
Improved knowledge of the Kiswahili language as a vehicle for peace and strengthening multiculturalism
Promotion of the values, ideas, thoughts, and philosophy of renowned advocates of the Kiswahili language
Assessment of the availability of Kiswahili language resources and tools needed to promote a culture of peace.
Raising awareness of the historical context/trajectory, current and future aspects of the Kiswahili language internationally
Encouraging more research and socio-cultural activities to strengthen multiculturalism through the Kiswahili language; and
Strengthening the interest and use of Kiswahili among young people through social media programmes, music and cultural activities with a focus on peace.
Activities
This year's commemoration of World Kiswahili Language Day will include the following activities at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris:
Official ceremony, Conference in panel format, Cultural evening, Animation workshops for children and Social media campaign.
Celebrations are also organized at national level in some countries, as was the case in 2023, with the participation, among others, of UNESCO Field Offices, including the UNESCO Liaison Offices in Addis Ababa and New York.
Article 2
Uganda: $800m budgeted to teach Ugandans Kiswahili[2]
The Ugandan government has allocated $800m (£625m) to the promotion and education of Swahili in the country as part of efforts to promote regional integration. Uganda’s East African Affairs Minister Rebecca Kadaga has said civil servants, including doctors, nurses and border officials, will be given priority in the upcoming Swahili language training programme. The Minister did not provide further details as to when and how the training program would be presented. Mr Kadaga said all government officials, including ministers and judges, would undergo compulsory weekly classes as part of efforts to popularize the language in the country.
In July 2022, the Ugandan government approved the introduction of Swahili as an official language and ordered it to be a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools. However, the language is currently taught in some secondary schools in the country. Approximately 200 million people around the world speak Swahili. In 2021, Swahili became most active as the United Nations declared July 7th as World Swahili Language Day. It is also the official language of the East African Regional Area EAC. In 2019, Swahili was recognized as the only African language by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Efforts are also underway to introduce it into classrooms across South Africa and Botswana.
2. My arguments, again
I am a UN former staff, and therefore, far from me detracting from my residual loyalty to the system of organizations that employed me over 33 years, the best part of my youth. Nonetheless, it remains inescapable that merely celebrating a World Kiswahili Day[3] is doing a disservice to the peoples of Africa and to the language we purport to acknowledge. The UN, the world, Africa need to go farther, and promote the language[4].
I contend therefore, that the expected results of this year’s celebrations as indicated in the article also fall very short, unless there are deliberate and visible efforts at consecrating Kiswahili as a diplomatic and conference language. Otherwise, these celebrations remain an entertainment (promote a culture of peace among the youth through social media programmes!).
I argue that instead, the objectives of the celebration (I would argue more for promotion than celebration) should be to commit to a programme that UNESCO would elaborate to promote in practice the use of Kiswahili, through
research, in collaboration with academic institutions already advanced in Kiswahili research,
the financing of Institutes for experts on translation, interpretation, proofreading of translated documentation,
the gradual promotion of the Kiswahili language in UN Conferences, in the UN Secretariat,
supporting African countries in establishing a curriculum that includes Kiswahili either in Primary or secondary education.
Supporting in the medium-term the declaration by the UN General Assembly of Kiswahili as a UN Language, (along with the current official UN languages - English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic)
UNESCO national offices could be encouraged to push countries where parts of their territory already speak Kiswahili to upgrade the language into their school curricula, in collaboration with major Kiswahili-speaking countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, DRC, Uganda, Mozambique and others.
Uganda decided to put resources into teaching Kiswahili. UNESCO can learn from that experience. Need I say more[5]?
In summary, UNESCO, please take a leaf from Uganda and create a pool of countries that could be interested in co-financing such a more meaningful initiative beyond folklore. Move from celebrating to promoting.
Jose
Tete, 01 July 2024
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