There Isn’t Enough Online COVID-19 Information in African Languages. These Activists Are Changing That.
The pandemic has made translating information around social distancing and masks much more crucial.
By Kim Harrisberg and Kristi Eaton
Johannesburg/Tulsa, April 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) The words facemask and hand sanitiser are now familiar the world over, but for isiZulu speakers in South Africa those terms did not exist a year ago, until a group of volunteers took to the internet to create them.
From Wikipedia posts in Indigenous tongues to digital word libraries, African language lovers are going online to preserve and create words and content for future generations an effort that has been given added urgency by the coronavirus pandemic.
FEATURE-Young Africans go online to preserve local languages, fight COVID-19
reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Young Africans go online to preserve local languages, fight COVID-19
reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
FEATURE-Native Americans get voice in how to handle cases of missing, murdered Reuters 1/25/2021
By Kristi Eaton
TULSA, Oklahoma, Jan 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For nearly two years, Aubrey Dameron, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, has been missing. Last seen in March 2019, Dameron disappeared while leaving her mother s rural home early in the morning.
Her family has been following various leads, including draining a pond near her home, but is no closer to discovering what happened to Dameron, who was 25 when she disappeared, her aunt, Pam Smith, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Now, as two Oklahoma attorneys partner with the Cherokee Nation and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation on a new pilot project to raise awareness, resources and protocols for cases of missing and murdered indigenous people, Smith finally feels some hope.