19/02/2024
Commemoration of UNESCO International Mother Language Day 22nd FEBRUARY
21th February is commemorated as International Mother Language Day.In Zimbabwe it is National Youth Day as well. As it is a holiday, CHIPAWO will be commemorating it on 22nd February, between 1pm and 3pm at Admiral Tait Primary School, Dundee Rd, Harare.CHIPAWO centres will be presenting performances featuring various Zimbabwean languages. The programme will include educational speeches, discussion and children’s performances, plays, songs and dances from different Zimbabwean cultures.Our Guest of Honour is Professor Christopher Chetsanga, editor of the English-Shona Science and Technology Dictionary - Duramazwi resainzi nehumhizha reChirungu neChishona, founder and first director of the Scientific and Industrial Research Development Centre [SIRDC], formally Dean of Science at the University of Zimbabwe and presently Vice-Chancellor of Ezikiel Guti University in Zimbabwe.
For obvious reasons, though we guide and teach our children many things in CHIPAWO, politics and religion are not among them. We are not able to explain fully to them why mother language preservation and usage are strategically highly important, at the individual, family, school, community and national level. Instead, we inculcate the beauty of our national languages and respect for those of others through the arts – the children will learn and perform the songs, dances and culture of those languages.We hope that all over the world people will talk, sing, and even dress in the culture of their mother tongue.A JOYOUS MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY – 21 FEBRUARY – ALL OVER THE WORD.