Africa is a beautiful continent, blessed with rich natural resources.
Different communities speak different languages, that play a significant role in their lives, and identify who they are when among people of other cultures.
All these different languages are attached to cultures that tell the world who we are as Africans.
As Africans we have different cultures, but they are somehow similar to each other.
They are beautiful and make us whole and appreciative of our circumstances in life as human beings and families.
However, there is one thing that bothers me about our indigenous languages, they are not portrayed as languages of access, knowledge sharing and development.
They are portrayed as languages of communication in our small communities, amongst ourselves and thats it.
They are not used for business transactions, if one cannot speak English or any believed to be the language of access, they would never be able to access some of the most basic things they need.
For example in South Africa, for one to get a proper job, they must at least be able to utter a few sentences in English, and the rest follows.
Reality about Africa is that, many people in our communities are not literate, due to a lot of challenges that we are presented with.
As a result many people, especially from rural communities feel comfortable when expressing themselves in their own languages.
They become uncomfortable, if they get into a situation where they have to speak English.
Scholars like Alexander, and others have argued that, for indigenous languages to grow and become languages of access and knowledge, they need to be used in domains that have long been dominated by English.
Domains that have been portrayed as areas of power and knowledge, for example, media, Science and technology, institutions of higher education etc.
This is believed to be a very good way of intellectualizing indigenous languages.
South Africa is a multicultural society, but people from other cultures do not know much about indigenous languages and cultures.
indigenous language speakers are the ones required to adapt to other cultures and languages, as a result many people still believe that in order to be cool and be accepted in our society, one has to be proficient in English and follow its culture.
That shows clearly that our minds still need to be decolonized (Thiong'o).
Reality is that everyone likes beautiful things, if English is the language of access to beautiful things who would want to be stuck with indigenous languages, that have nothing to offer? My take on that one is that, there is a lot we can do as indigenous language speakers to uplift the standard of our languages and remove the stereotype around our languages, so that we become able to access, share knowledge and develop them even further.
Media is one of the most powerful tools to share knowledge, educate, entertain and inform people.
It also has been dominated by English.
But that can be changed, as indigenous language speakers we need to be active, start working from the grass roots level.
Community media need to acknowledge the use of indigenous languages, in terms of content.
Newspapers need to make sure that good indigenous language writers, also get an opportunity of writing articles in their languages, so that our languages can be at the center of information sharing.
That would help uplift the standard of our languages and develop people who believe that, they are not good enough because they are not proficient in English.
People would eventually develop into becoming readers, writers and editors in their own language.
Community radios, would need to develop programs that use pure indigenous languages, programs that celebrate heritage of African cultures.
Programs that would educate young people about African culture and its meaning in people's lives.
Programs that would generate more research by indigenous language speakers.
That would revive people who believe that they no longer have a role in our society, because they do not know English.
That would allow people an opportunity to become part of knowledge sharing while learning.
We cannot run away from the fact that, technology is taking over, other languages already have space in it, as a result they are taking over.
Why cant we allow our languages and culture to be heard, reviewed by speakers from other languages, and maybe given an opportunity to see the light? As Africans, we have rich knowledge, that people can learn from, but because people who have this knowledge have become obsolete in our society, because they cannot speak English or any powerful language.
ICT is the most powerful tool, and very much dominated by English at that.
One of the projects I have come to know here in South Africa is situated in a rural area.
The project provides the area with computers, wireless internet connection and training.
The computers are placed in schools because they are the only places with electricity.
The project is run by two higher education institutions and is funded by some ICT organizations.
Researchers from these institutions have been conducting research in this project, as a way of assessing ways of improving it, assessing how people adopt the use of computers etc.
One of the things that captured my mind as I came across the findings was that, people highlighted the issue of language as a barrier in the smooth adoption of computer use.
The respondent said, "we like using computers, but we struggle with the language, we do not understand English".
That made me realize that, language can be a real barrier, if communities cannot relate to the machines they are supposed to use for the rest of their lives, they will not develop to their full extent.
Language practitioners need to work with technology experts to localize ICT into African language so that communities (especially rural ones) can leapfrog into the information society, which is growing each minute.
That is up to us!