[A12n-forum] Re: [A12n-Collab] Use of Yoruba ...

["Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Pam. At this point any list is the right one. Right off I'd suggest
anything like Tavultesoft Keyman and fonts that you can download more
readily from where you are in UK than in SW Nigeria.  Let me take a moment
(now that my move out of Niamey has been postponed a little) to put together
a short list.  Hopefully others will have some input as well.

It's a fascinating effort you are working with and I appreciate your keeping
us involved with info and questions!

Don Osborn
Bisharat.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pam.mclean" <pam.mclean@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "African languages & ICT technical WG" <a12n-collaboration@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 12:51 PM
Subject: [A12n-Collab] Use of Yoruba -previously mailed with wrong subject
line


(Don This is definitely a Bisharat query but I may not have posted to
exactly the right list)

I am preparing for a trip to the OOCD 2000+ InfoCentre in Ago-Are in April.
I expect to take a laptop out for David Mutua, our project manager to use,
and wonder if there is any software I should be making sure to install
before I go.Also I wonder it there is anything I should download onto
CD-Roms for the InfoCentre and its satellite.
.
This is the present situation

David has been picking up quite a lot of spoken Yoruba during his time in
Ago-Are, and I notice he has started to drop the odd phrase into his emails
to Chief Adejumo (OOCD chairman) - but with no attempts at tonal marks. It
would be good if he could do it properly. As far as possible David prepares
his emails off line, using OOCD hardware, so he only has to pay for time to
transmit when he is at the cyber cafe.

Another three developments may be relevant ref possible future use of Yoruba
within the project.

1 - We have a "satellite" InfoCentre now at the office of RUSEL (a
grass-roots micro credit and training organisation) based in Okeho and
serving four Local Government areas. The founder Mrs Victoria Adetona
recently won a prize for her work (through a CAWD/OOCD nomination on the
Internet) The prize has enabled her to buy a photocopier and computer for
the office. She links with OOCD in various ways and travelled to the Ago-Are
InfoCentre to borrow CD-Roms, which have development information on them..
Mrs Adetona speaks English and Yoruba, and has a strong interest in the use
of Yoruba (she was nearing the end of a Yoruba related  Master's degree when
I met her last year).   RUSEL now has an email address and the idea if to
empty the mailbox in through an Ibadan mailbox, every two weeks.

2 - The level of computer awareness in Ago-Are is increasing. People who
have taken the ICT literacy course are dropping in to practice and develop
their skills. Quite a few of these people are teachers. English is the
language used in schools but Yoruba is the language used at home and in most
everyday life.The teachers have many and varied responsibilities within
their extended families and the wider community. Many members of their
extended families speak very little English and have never been taught to
read or write in Yoruba. There are three computers at the InfoCentre.

3 - People in Ago-Are are increasingly turning to the word-processing
services of the InfoCentre to prepare community notices, group letters and
newsletters.

4 - We have some user friendly desktop publishing software.

5 - The youths of Ago-Are are trying to establish a library.

Imagine all those things being put together - teachers, a community that has
lots of community groups and organisations, local fundraising for a library,
desk top publishing facilities, the need to share information within a
Yoruba speaking community who have little opportunity to access written
information in their own language. (I have noticed some; .such as hymn
sheets, and various quotes in the community magazine, I must try to pay this
closer  attention next time I visit)

Suggestions and advice on taking this forward are welcome. At present we
have no external funding source so please don't tease us with news of expens
ive resources unless you also have an idea for how we can pay for it or can
suggest some partnership that would enable us to be included in.

Pamela McLean

CAWD - supporting Community Action for Welfare and Development

(CAWD volunteers use home Internet connectivity on behalf of rural
development projects - new volunteers welcome)



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