African-Americans don't see Africa as a continent.
You ask your average politically-progressive black student in an American college about their "heritage" and they'll tell you about slavery and the ideal moral land that is Africa, where community and group efforts rule the day.
Ask a non-black American student, and they're even worse: Africa's a third-world country where people poke at the ground to hopefully find a scrap of plant to eat while their children stand around with distended bellies waving off flies. (And for only 15 cents a day you can feed these starving children)
I was an African Studies minor in college, learned a little bit of Swahili and met with quite a few African students and teachers. The reality is quite different: You've got many developing nations who are trying very hard to get a leg up, and some are doing quite well. (Mostly East Africa, such as Kenya and Tanzania) Some nations are led by millitary despots who are milking their nations dry and pocketing all the foreign aid. Others are Islamic states.
I'm saying all this to hopefully show those of you who click down this far part of what Africa's really like. It's a lot like Europe, only bigger and poorer. Hopefully the poorer part will change.
Why the joking about the Swahili translation?
Yes, it seens to be a small market. But please remember that Swahili is something like the 7th most commonly spoken language in the world. It's a well-known trade language in East- and Central Africa, and in a hugely polyglot culture, the trade languages are very important.
Swahili is an official language in Kenya, and Tanzania, and probably in Rwanda and Uganda as well.
Think about this: it could be that the proliferation of high-tech tools in underdeveloped areas is hindered by the lack of working software in local languages. Would you like to learn Swahili just to read the help files in Gnumeric?
This is a big deal - most especially because it was done by Swahili speaking techs at a Swahili speaking school (Okay, so Tanzanian colleges teach in English mostly - all the students speak Kiswahili.) The fact that a local community took sofware and adapted it to their needs is the very essence of open source. Nafurahi Chuoo Kikuu Cha Dar Es Salaam cha kufasiri OO.O! (I love the University of Dar for translating Open Office.)
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African-Americans don't see Africa as a continent.
You ask your average politically-progressive black student in an American college about their "heritage" and they'll tell you about slavery and the ideal moral land that is Africa, where community and group efforts rule the day.
Ask a non-black American student, and they're even worse: Africa's a third-world country where people poke at the ground to hopefully find a scrap of plant to eat while their children stand around with distended bellies waving off flies. (And for only 15 cents a day you can feed these starving children)
I was an African Studies minor in college, learned a little bit of Swahili and met with quite a few African students and teachers. The reality is quite different: You've got many developing nations who are trying very hard to get a leg up, and some are doing quite well. (Mostly East Africa, such as Kenya and Tanzania) Some nations are led by millitary despots who are milking their nations dry and pocketing all the foreign aid. Others are Islamic states.
I'm saying all this to hopefully show those of you who click down this far part of what Africa's really like. It's a lot like Europe, only bigger and poorer. Hopefully the poorer part will change.
Why the joking about the Swahili translation? Yes, it seens to be a small market. But please remember that Swahili is something like the 7th most commonly spoken language in the world. It's a well-known trade language in East- and Central Africa, and in a hugely polyglot culture, the trade languages are very important. Swahili is an official language in Kenya, and Tanzania, and probably in Rwanda and Uganda as well. Think about this: it could be that the proliferation of high-tech tools in underdeveloped areas is hindered by the lack of working software in local languages. Would you like to learn Swahili just to read the help files in Gnumeric? This is a big deal - most especially because it was done by Swahili speaking techs at a Swahili speaking school (Okay, so Tanzanian colleges teach in English mostly - all the students speak Kiswahili.) The fact that a local community took sofware and adapted it to their needs is the very essence of open source. Nafurahi Chuoo Kikuu Cha Dar Es Salaam cha kufasiri OO.O! (I love the University of Dar for translating Open Office.)