Mother Languages Day 2022 (Jennings)

February 21 is International Mother Languages Day. For the past 11 years, we've had a joint celebration with Shalom University of Bunia, including academic papers and cultural presentations. This year there were only 3 papers, two of which were given by Douglas! He described the process by which "new" languages are officially added to the world's list of languages, and he reported on the results of a literacy survey done in the Vanuma language. There was good interest in both of his presentations.

The other presentation was given by a young man who runs a school for the Kihema language. He has trained people in person here in Bunia, and many more via WhatsApp, for people in the diaspora. With the Hema community under attack the past several years, there is increased interest for people to learn their traditions and language. Several of his students presented a sketch, showing the elaborate system of greetings and welcome in a Hema household. Then they described the many uses and benefits of cow's milk (the Hema are herders), and they made butter using the traditional method, in a large calabash (gourd).

Finally came the most popular part of the day... singing and dancing! We heard from the Hema, Ndo Kebhu, Kakwa and Lugbara groups. Here are some video clips. The Lugbara community in Bunia is quite large and enthusiastic. Their leader works at Shalom, and he led them in the singing and dancing. Many audience members came up on the stage to join in.

For the larger groups, especially Lugbara, the dancing started as a presentation, facing the audience, but soon turned into a circular dance. To me, that seemed to show that dance is a communal activity, not just something to present to an audience.