Download Move Za Kiswahili
Midas Hertz
Soon after UNESCO made the announcement, many Swahili speakers, language experts, universities and other learning institutions took to social media to celebrate the move, while media houses in Africa gave it extensive coverage.
Have you ever wanted to travel, move or study abroad, but felt held back by the logistics of negotiating a language barrier? This is actually a frequent question I receive on my instagram and blog.
I recently moved to Tanzania to start a year-long gender equity project here in partnership with a local NGO. I knew I would need Swahili language skills to show cultural awareness and respect to my research participants, and to gain insight into my presence as a white, English-speaking foreigner.
The Resolution passed this morning and moved by Hon Shyrose Bhanji, follows a Cabinet Meeting held on October 12th, 2016 in Rwanda, that passed the draft law seeking to make Kiswahili one of the official languages of the Assembly.
During the struggle for Tanganyika independence, the Tanganyika African National Union used Swahili as a language of mass organisation and political movement. This included publishing pamphlets and radio broadcasts to rally the people to fight for independence. After gaining independence, Swahili was adopted as the national language. To this day, Tanzanians carry a sense of pride when it comes to Swahili, especially when it is used to unite over 120 tribes across Tanzania. Swahili was used to strengthen solidarity within the nation, and remains to be a key identity of the Tanzanian people.
Bao is an East African board game - actually, `Bao` is the Swahili word for `board game`.
It consists of a board with two rows of pits containing seeds. The objective is to move seeds around the board and thereby taking those of the opponent until he cannot move anymore.
This game is available in 3 versions: A simple one called `Hus Bao`, which is commonly played by kids. A more complex and strategic version called `Bao la Kujifunza`. And the full version called `Bao la Kiswahili`, which comes in 2 game phases and with a complex ruleset which is also known as the `King of Mancala Games`.
It is highly recommended to thoroughly read the rules including the examples before playing the full version to understand why a move is possible or not and what the terms mean.
Also, for the first games when playing the more complex versions, it is recommended to not let the Kichwa selected automatically, in order to allow for better understanding of the different parts of the move and only later set it to not have repeatedly select the only possible option.
To help practicing the game or understand special rules, there is an editor option for training mode which allows for customizing the board freely.
Since it is not easy to fully understand all the rules and special cases, don't hesitate to contact the author and ask, he will happily assist with questions.
For those interested in the game development, have a look at
Move selection:A player selects one of their bowls containing at least two stones for starting their move.Then they select one of the neighbor fields to determine the direction of the move. The move can be canceled by selecting the same field again.
The recent move by Parliament to unanimously adopt a Motion by Taita-Taveta Woman Representative Joyce Lay urging the National Council for Law Reporting to translate the Constitution and laws of Kenya into Kiswahili is quite encouraging.
The move is progressive because the political and economic problems of language policy in Africa today continue to remind us of the unforgettable historical fact of European colonialism. The political considerations emanating from ethnic diversity are another legacy of colonialism.
The Bao board consists of four rows, each one with eight holes. The holes are rounded except the fourth from the right in the central rows, which is square in shape and called nyumba ("house"). A nyumba ceases temporarily to be a functional nyumba, when it has less than six seeds, and ultimately, when its contents have been captured or moved in a lap. In the rules given below, a nyumba is always meant to be a "functional nyumba". The ultimate holes at either end of the inner rows are called kichwa ("head") and both, the ultimate and the penultimate holes are known as kimbi (according to P. Townshend this word could be derived from kimbia = "very fast").
There is an initial phase with special rules, called namu, in which seeds are introduced into play, and the main stage called mtaji, which starts after the move that put the last seed on the board.
Moves can be with or without capturing. Non-capturing moves are also known as takata. Captures are mandatory. A prerequisite for making a capture is to have at least two occupied holes facing each other in the players' front rows. Any such position results in a capture during the namu stage, but in the mtaji stage the last seed of the first lap must fell into an occupied hole in opposition to really effect a capture. Only the contents of the opponent's front row can be captured while those in his back row are safe. In addition, the following general rules must be abided by all the times:
The Kiswahili Language Day came to be through a series of events and activities to recognize the global relevance of the Kiswahili language and its role as a unifying language in Africa. Back in time, on the 7th of July 1954, the first move was made to celebrate the Kiswahili language by the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) under the leadership of the late Mwalimu Julius who was the first president of the United Republic of Tanzania. The union adopted Kiswahili to be used as a unifying language to mark the African independence struggle. The second move was made on the 7th of July, 2000 by the East African Community (EAC) which was re-established to rekindle the spirit of cooperation and oneness amongst the people of East Africa. declared Kiswahili as its official language of communication.
Students with disabilities must be educated in the least restrictive educational environment - and that may mean a general education class. An essential principle of IDEA is that students with disabilities should be included in the general education program as much as possible and not excluded or educated separately. Children with disabilities have the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment. This means that an IEP Team must consider educating and providing services to a student in the same setting as students without disabilities for academic, non-academic, and extracurricular activities. A student with disabilities can be removed from the general education classroom setting only if the needs are so severe or disruptive that he or she cannot make educational progress, even with extra support and services in the general education classroom. Not all students with disabilities can succeed in a general education classroom without support. Some students need individual help from a teacher's aide in the class, or modifications of curriculum, materials, or methods of instruction. Other students require a different setting entirely, such as a special day school or home instruction. Every school district must make sure that a range of educational settings is available for students with disabilities since some students with disabilities need more than can be offered in a general education setting. Students must be educated in the educational setting that is closest to the general education classroom, but will still allow the student to make academic progress. This range of educational settings is sometimes called a continuum of placements and can include the options described in the chart to the left.
The Portuguese first took an interest in East Africa from the beginning of the 16th century as their empire spread eastwards across the Indian Ocean. Trade in the region was already well-established and carried out by Africans, Indians, and Arabs. Attacks on the trading cities of the Swahili Coast and the Kingdom of Mutapa by the Portuguese did not bring any tangible benefits as traders simply moved to the north. Consequently, the Europeans decided to concentrate on the area which became Portuguese East Africa (aka Portuguese Mozambique) further south. Mozambique was settled by Portuguese who integrated with local communities in the country's interior. Mozambique remained a Portuguese colony until independence was achieved in 1975.
Then, in the final years of the 15th century, the Portuguese arrived to upset this century-old balance of trade. The first momentous move in this game of empires came with the 1498-1499 voyage of Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524). The Portuguese explorer had audaciously sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and up the east coast of Africa before sailing east to India. He thus opened up a maritime route between Europe and India, but he had also noted the trade ships laden with valuables anchored in the African Swahili ports.
Mozambique became a part of the Estado da India from 1571. Carrack trade ships plied the Indian Ocean regularly between Mozambique and Goa as part of the route known as the carreira da India. As in other Portuguese colonies, many European immigrants were undesirables (degredados), shipped by the authorities to free Portugal of them. These reluctant travellers included convicts, beggars, reformed prostitutes, orphans, and religious dissidents. The coastal towns soon developed European architecture, especially villas, churches, and paved thoroughfares. Meanwhile, many Portuguese moved inland and integrated with local tribes, intermarrying and often adopting the lifestyle and even the appearance of Mozambique Africans. A system developed known as prazo, where African chiefs gave land and trade and tribute rights to Portuguese and Afro-Portuguese, an appointment then formally recognised by the Portuguese Crown. In return, the appointee (a muzungo) had to ensure justice was carried out in his territory, supervise traditional rituals, and approve chiefs of smaller villages in their jurisdiction. To maintain their position, muzungos had a private army of retainers (chicunda) which could number several thousand Africans. By 1637, there were at least 80 prazos, and most acted independently of the weak Portuguese administration at the capital Maputo.
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