Event
UNESCO in Brasilia celebrates Kiswahili Language Day
Jambo (hello), Amani (peace), Elimu (education) and Upendo (love). These words, in Kiswahili, welcomed participants to the Kiswahili Language Day celebration at UNESCO Headquarters in Brasilia on Friday, 7 July 2023. Kiswahili is one of the most widely used languages of the African language family and is among the ten most spoken languages in the world, with more than 200 million speakers.
The United Nations Assembly proclaimed 7 July each year as Kiswahili Language Day through its of 11 September 2017. Kiswahili is the first African language to be recognized in such a manner by the United Nations. This is in recognition of the Kiswahili language's role in promoting cultural diversity, creating awareness, and fostering dialogue among civilizations. For the United Nations and UNESCO, multilingualism is a fundamental value in harmonious communication among peoples, promoting unity in diversity, understanding, tolerance, and intercultural dialogue.
The ceremony to celebrate the Kiswahili Language Day took place on 7 July at 10:00 a.m. It was attended by the Director and Representative of UNESCO in Brazil, Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto, the Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya in Brazil, Lemarron Kaanto, and the Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania, Officer Sulesman Mombo. Kenya and Tanzania embassies in Brazil participated in the organization of the event together with UNESCO.
The celebration in Brasilia was also attended by the Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Brazil, Silvia Rucks and diplomatic representatives from several African countries, such as Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, among others.
The Kwahili language tells the story of dialogue between languages and facilitates exchange between people and countries. In fact, as this language has words and concepts that it shares with other African languages, it has an impressive binding force.
Promoting linguistic diversity is at the heart of UNESCO's mandate.
UNESCO encourages everyone to take advantage of this day to celebrate the richness of humanity's languages and culture, which makes us such diverse humanity in such a rich community of friends, friends and family in the world. Happy Kiswahili Language Day!
The Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Brazil, Silvia Rucks, highlighted the need for more exchanges between countries and continents and highlighted the importance of events such as the one held at UNESCO in BrasÃlia.
The Representatives of Kenya and Tanzania in Brazil also spoke about the importance of the language and the celebration of its date.
This day celebrates the beauty, richness and importance of the Kiswahili language. This language occupies a unique place in the world as far as languages are concerned. It is a vibrant and dynamic language that spans nations and continents.
In his speech in Kiswahili, the Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania in Brazil, Officer Sulesman Mombo, recalled that in his country, the Kiswahili language, like English, is the official language used in primary schools, in addition to being a mandatory subject in the upper secondary education level. It is also learned in different universities.
UNESCO in Brazil and its partners have made extensive efforts to promote and value the history and culture of Africa and the Afro-Brazilian population. Brazil is the largest African diaspora due to its long historical period of slavery.
The date was also celebrated at UNESCO headquarters, in Paris, with a roundtable discussion on the propagation and application of Kiswahili in the age of technology, musical performances and gastronomy.
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