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Our Dying Language: Somali Stopped Growing Due To Destruction Of National Literary Institutions
17 November 2009
By Abdi-Noor Mohamed The civil war in Somalia has brought large-scale catastrophes; among them is the systematic killing of the Somali language. All schools are taught in foreign languages such as Arabic and English. There are also few schools that teach French and Italian. The entire school curriculum has been borrowed from foreigners who have set these curricula to suit their own national goals. Besides that our Somali literature has stopped growing due to destruction of national literary institutions. Rarely has a new Somali poetry been recited within a perspective of national unity during the “Lost Years” of war and famine. Most of our poets and singers are scattered all over the world after they ran away from the tribal conflict which had swept across the their motherland. Those who insisted to remain behind have either lost their lives in shootings or died a natural death due to neglect and starvation. Without having schools and poets with a national calibre how are we going to save our language? Poetry is the shield of any language and without poetry a language is just a victim, which can be easily swallowed, by other languages. Poetry is the beauty of a language and without poetry a language is just colourless, as it cannot reflect the images of life. Poetry is the protection of language roots, as without poetry language has no identity. Poetry in oral and written form is the best way of saving a language from dying. Even myself I´m contributing to the death of our language since I am preaching to save somali language while writing this article in English. As we have no national goals or vision at all we have adopted foreign languages in our schools and that will bring alien cultures to our children and more seriously, murder our language in cold blood. In the distant horizon of Time, I see a looming disaster. The social breakdown of Somalia will triple if the current pace of horror continues. Those who have opened schools in such a difficult situation deserve our praise and appreciation but the fact that each school has adopted a different curriculum is a case of major concern. In Somalia Today There are hundreds of schools Each one has its own curriculum None of them reflects our needs They were all borrowed from outside Schools are run with foreign funds Each donor has its own interests Our mother tongue is rarely taught In Somalia Today Children do not know their country They do not know their history either They do not know their national anthem They instead know other songs and cultures They do not know our beloved heroes They do not know what freedom means In Somalia Today Our education has no national goals Divisions will ruin the new generation Children of the same family go to different schools They can't help each other in home assignment Each one does not know what the other is reading They are growing up in the same house Yet they are living in different worlds I worry much about our new generation. I worry much about the looming disaster Abdi-Noor Mohamed Writer and film maker Vaxjo university Sweden nuuru2003@hotmail.com
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