PEN PAPER PEACE e.V.

International Mother Language Day - 21.02.:

International Mother Language Day was established by the UNESCO General Conference on November 17, 1999, and has been celebrated every February 21 since 2000, with the aim of promoting linguistic and cultural diversity.

Did you know that at the school Baumgartsbrunn in Namibia, students are taught both in English and Khoekhoegowab? In celebration of International Mother Language Day, let’s learn more about this language!

Khoekhoegowab (also known as Khoekhoe or Nama/Damara) belongs to the Khoisan language family, which is characterized by the use of click consonants. The use of Khoekhoegowab is mainly concentrated in the southern regions of Namibia, where it is spoken by the Nama and Damara communities.
Khoekhoegowab is recognized as one of the thirteen national languages in Namibia: it is widely used in education at all levels, as well as on the radio. It is estimated to be spoken by more than 200,000 people!

An interesting fact: the name of the country is derived from the word “Namib”, which describes a vast open space. What else to say? Gangans (thank you) and !Gâise !gû re (Good-bye)!

Thank you to our volunteer Martina for the research!

Colonial Traces in … Genoa, Italy

Thank you to our volunteer Martina for the research and the photos!

Useful links:
Budasz, D., & Wurzer, M. (2023). Postcolonial Italy, A Public History Project Mapping Colonial Heritage. Interventions, 26(7), 1069–1075. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2023.2222710
Budasz, D., & Wurzer, M. (2019). Postcolonial Italy: Mapping colonial heritage. https://postcolonialitaly.com/