Stories about Swahili
Google's Optical Character Recognition Software Now Works with All South Asian Languages
Google's OCR software supports more than 248 world languages, including all the major South Asian languages, bringing together hope for the large-scale digitization of old texts.
Watch Out For the Most Tightly Contested Election in Tanzania's History
"Lowassa is a Maasai Robin Hood. Or Tanzanian El Chapo. Look at the hands he touches and not the toes he stepped on."
VIDEO: The World Is Saying #FreeZone9Bloggers
Global Voices marks the one-year anniversary of the arrest of Ethiopia's Zone9 bloggers with this crowd-sourced this video of support. Say it with us: #FreeZone9Bloggers!
Tanzania's Cyber Crime Bill Gives More Power to Police, Less to People
Leading opponents of the legislation from civil society say they will take the government to court if the president signs the bill into law.
Tanzanian Schools Will Teach Students in Swahili, Not English
President Jakaya Kikwete launched a new education system in Tanzania last week that, among other changes, will introduce Swahili as the language of instruction in schools.
OjoVoz App Helps Underrepresented Communities Go Digital With Their Storytelling
OjoVoz is an Android mobile app that allows underrepresented communities to collaboratively share digital stories through images and sound.
Fighting Malnutrition in Rwanda With Music
Rwanda’s top musicians King James, Miss Jojo, Riderman, Tom Close, and Urban Boyz join the fight against malnutrition in Rwanda with a YouTube music video. The video is also available with Swahili subtitles.
A Leaked Document Casts A Shadow Over Tanzania's Bright Gas Extraction Outlook
Leaked to the public, a contract between Norway's Statoil and the Tanzanian government highlights how fraught the question of revenues from Tanzania’s gasfields—and who will benefit from them—has become.
Collection of Articles on the Sacking of Popular Tanzanian Opposition MP
Ben Taylor shares a collection of articles on the sacking of Zitto Kabwe, a popular young Member of Parliament with the main Tanzanian opposition party, Chadema. Zitto was: […] was stripped of his official positions by party leaders in the early hours of Friday morning. He will no longer be...
UK Press Coverage of Zanzibar Acid Attack Risks Inflaming Religious Tensions
The UK press coverage of acid attack on two British girls in Zanzibar is misleading to the families of the two girls and risks inflaming religious tensions in Tanzania.
Tanzanians Review Highly Anticipated Obama Visit
Dar es Salaam is getting back to normal after two days in which the city found itself playing host to arguably the most powerful man on earth: President Barack Obama of the United States. The city's streets were inundated with posters of the man.
The Team Tanzania TV Drama Series
The Team Tanzania is a TV drama series about: […] Ms. Wito, a dynamic civics teacher, who turns the world of 3 teenagers upside down when she challenges them with controversial questions like “Who are you”? The three 16-year olds, who have known each other all their lives. On the...
24 Steps to Improve Your Reporting
24 hours in the life of a news room shares great ideas and resources with journalists working in print, TV, radio or on the web. It is available in five languages. For online journalism, it covers topics from news monitoring and HTML basics to traffic analysis tools and comments moderation.
#Nimeregister Campaign to Promote Voter Registration in Kenya
As the deadline for voter registration exericise approaches, Kenyans on Twitter are using #nimeregister hashtag to encourage each other to vote and share voter registration information, experiences and photos. Nimeregister is a combination of Swahili and English, which means "I have registered."
Have M23 Rebels Really Left Goma, DRC?
Backed by the Rwandan government, M23 rebels seized control of the city of Goma in the Kivu region, near the Rwandan border. Despite reports that the rebellion have agreed to pull out of Goma, it seems that there is still a great deal of uncertainty over when they will effectively do so.
Oscar Pistorius and the Paralympic #Bladegate Controversy
South African double amputee and the first athlete to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics Games in the same year, Oscar Pistorius, attracted attention after being beaten to second place in the T44 200 metres men’s final. African bloggers analyse the issue.
Tanzania: Teachers’ Strike De-stabilizes the Nation
Teachers in Tannzania have been on a strike to urge the government to pay their unpaid dues and to improve their benefit and salaries. The strike followed, after the Teacher's union (Chama Cha Walimu-CWT),through their president Mr.Gratian Mukoba, gave the g0vernment a 48 hours notice on 28thJuly,2012
Tanzania: Farewell to a Film Star
Tanzania bid farewell to one of its most popular film stars, Steven Kanumba, with an emotionally-charged funeral on 11 April, 2012. He died early on Saturday morning, aged 28, after an altercation with his girlfriend Elizabeth ‘Lulu’ Michael.
Tanzania: Dar Youth Mobilise Online to Assist Flood Victims
Dar Es Salaam’s young social media users are mobilising volunteers to assist in relief efforts following the floods that inundated vast areas of Dar es Salaam causing deaths and damage to infrastructure. Using the hashtag #Darfloods, Twitter users have been in the forefront informing and mobilising relief efforts.
Tanzania: Opposition MP Tweets His Arrest
Zitto Kabwe, a Tanzanian Member of Parliament from the opposition party Chadema, was arrested on June 4 in Central Tanzania soon after holding a public rally. As he was taken into police custody, the MP used his mobile phone to tweet the arrest to his 1,640 followers who retweeted, sympathised and tweeted back messages of encouragement.
Tanzania: Is Osama Bin Laden Really Dead?
The Tanzanian blogosphere has taken the news of death of the al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden with a pinch of salt. While few voices welcomed the news, a number of blog readers expressed doubts and came up with a number conspiracy theories.
