Today, on 9 August, we celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. According to the World Bank, there are about 467 million Indigenous peoples, who speak more than 4000 of the around 7000 languages spoken on our planet nowadays. However, more than half of the world’s languages are at risk of extinction by 2100. This loss is not just about words, it’s about the erasure of entire worlds. Indigenous languages carry a connection to the land, to ancestors, to knowledge passed down through millennia, like the traditional protection of our planet’s rich biodiversity.
Yet, in the face of this urgency, there are communities that refuse to let their language and knowledge slip away. Today we are looking at two examples of Indigenous peoples communities and their resilience against colonialism and marginalisation: the community in Galibi (Suriname) and the Sengwer community in Kenya. The St. Antoniusschool in Galibi strives to both protect their community’s native language, Kari’na, and to give their children a linguistically inclusive education. The Sengwer community is carrying out a language revitalisation project and has created a civil society organisation to assert their rights. What connects these two communities is the Rutu Foundation for intercultural multilingual education, a non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Rutu Foundation plays a central role in the coordination of the Language Friendly School (LFS) programme and the Indigenous-Led Education Network (ILED) – the Language Friendly School was inspired by the Indigenous community in Galibi, and the Sengwer community is active within ILED. Today we want to bring together the LFS and ILED by highlighting these two communities and their tireless efforts to preserve their cultural heritage and how much we can learn from them when trying to create inclusive, equitable education systems.
Galibi, Suriname – its people, its language and its school
St. Antoniusschool is a primary school located in Galibi (Suriname), a community formed by the Indigenous villages Christiaankondre and Langamankondre. Its inhabitants speak a severely endangered Indigenous language called Kari’na, which is only spoken in Galibi. According to the last official census in 2012, the community has a population of 741. The school was established in April 1925 and is the only school in Galibi, so it is highly important for the education of the local children. The education system in Suriname, a former Dutch colony, is largely based on Dutch teaching materials and the official language of education is Dutch, even though most Surinamese people do not grow up learning this language, especially those outside of Paramaribo (the capital of Suriname). In Galibi, children speak Kari’na at home and have no contact with Dutch before entering school.
St. Antoniusschool is Galibi, Suriname
Learning in a colonial education system
The teachers at St. Antoniusschool kept noticing that their students were struggling to understand what was happening in the classroom, for example when learning how to calculate. Teacher Greta Pané-Kiba, who experienced the prohibition of Indigenous languages in Suriname herself, especially when living in the city, shared this observation about her students’ learning difficulties with Ellen-Rose Kambel (the director of the Rutu Foundation). It was clear that the teaching approach was not suited to the Karin’a-speaking students’ needs, as they had to learn new content and skills in a foreign language while using materials intended for pupils from the Netherlands. For instance, their books would mention animals that don’t live in Suriname or vehicles like trains, which were new to children in Galibi. Soon, a bilingual education project with materials including the language and life reality of the children was created together with the community. In fact, this project would eventually lead to the creation of the Rutu Foundation back in 2011.
An inspiration for the Language Friendly School
The Language Friendly School (LFS) is a quality label and global network for schools committed to creating linguistically inclusive learning environments that welcome the languages of their entire school community, including teachers, students, and their parents. The LFS program was created in 2019, after its co-founders Ellen-Rose Kambel and Emmanuelle Le Pichon had observed the teaching practices at St. Antoniusschool and talked to the school community in Galibi, including parents, about what inclusive education that welcomes everyone’s language should look like. Even though many of the teachers don’t know any Kali’na and weren’t trained to teach children speaking other languages than Dutch, they made sure to ask for help from teachers like Elicia Pungtai, who is a speaker of Karin’a. When students do not understand an explanation in Dutch, Ms. Elicia gives them an explanation in Kari’na, and then repeats it again in Dutch.
The value of Indigenous resilience
The LFS co-founders knew that this school was already language friendly, as they are trying their best to include Karin’a into their teaching and also value the parents’ role in their children’s education. This is why the St. Antoniusschool was awarded an honorary membership of the LFS Network in 2023 to thank them for their work and for sharing their insights and needs. The central role of St. Antoniusschool in the development of the Language Friendly School programme shows what valuable educational practices can originate from Indigenous resilience – in the case of Galibi against the colonial education system – and how much we can learn from them when trying to create inclusive, equitable education systems.
The Sengwer Women of Kenya
The Sengwer, who live mainly in the Embobut Forest in Kenya, are an indigenous community with a rich cultural heritage and strong ties to the natural environment. Within the ILED Network, their focus on language revitalisation and the importance of Indigenous knowledge lie at the forefront of an inspiring movement to preserve their native language, Sengwer, amidst significant challenges. Being one of the most marginalised communities in Kenya, this Indigenous community has faced decades of harassment and attempted evictions by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), undermining their capacity to defend their rights and maintain their cultural heritage. This advent of colonialism subsequently undermined their symbiotic relationship with the natural world and their deep ties to their ancestral lands, interrupting their way of life which, for centuries, were and remain integral to the Sengwer community.
The importance of Indigenous knowledge and language revitalisation
The Senger women’s group works on their project “Planting a tree for my own breath” supported by the ILED Network
The Sengwer’s deep connection to their natural environment is marked by their traditional knowledge of hunting, gathering, managing forest resources such as seeds, and more. This traditional knowledge system has been instrumental in conserving the biodiversity of the Embobut Forest and its surrounding region. The need for increased efforts to preserve their Indigenous culture and language became necessary, and the Sengwer community formed the Sengwer Indigenous Peoples Programme (SIPP), a civil society organisation that builds on the efforts of community leaders and elders. SIPP has been instrumental in mobilising, educating, and supporting the Sengwer to assert their rights. Recognising the crucial link between their language and biodiversity, they are working to build a cultural centre that serves as both a repository of their botanical knowledge and a venue for language lessons. During school vacations, they offer classes to teach the Sengwer language, ensuring that the younger generation can reconnect with their linguistic heritage.
Naomi, a prominent member of the ILED youth fellowship programme and community leader, highlights the elders’ role in this revitalisation. Elders often speak in Sengwer, encouraging young people to learn and use the language. While some younger members have lost touch with their native tongue due to changes in the modern society, the community’s collective efforts are fostering a renewed interest and commitment to language preservation. If you are interested in hearing more about Naomi’s experience, feel free to listen to her podcast episode featured on the ILED Podcast!
The Language Friendly School and the ILED Network – two initiatives that share the same mission
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is a day that allows us to remember and focus on how the rich cultural diversity of Indigenous peoples is crucial to our societies. In turn, this shows how much can be learned from their Indigenous knowledge systems. Their languages are vital links to ancestral knowledge, cultural identity and the protection of our planet’s biodiversity. The work of Indigenous communities such as the St. Antoniusschool in Galibi (Suriname) and the Sengwer community in Kenya is therefore more important than ever. These communities challenge the perception that the Global South has nothing to give and requires input and help from the Global North, and instead showcase the valuable educational practices that come from indigenous resilience. As we strive to create inclusive and equitable education systems, these communities teach us the importance of preserving and celebrating linguistic diversity. Ensuring the fundamental right of all children to learn and continue to speak their mother tongue, long neglected by many education systems, is at the heart of the work of both communities and will continue to be promoted until it becomes the norm.
Our work at the Rutu Foundation
Inspired by an Indigenous community, the Language Friendly School aims at creating linguistically inclusive school communities all around the world. The LFS network is already present in 11 countries all over the world. It represents around 25.000 students from a diverse array of schools. All schools are welcome to join the network if they want to make their school community a welcoming space for all languages. Schools who have joined the LFS have two years to develop and evaluate their own plan to become linguistically inclusive, guided by the LFS Roadmap with suggestions on what to implement in the classroom and on the school level. On this journey, they can also benefit from the support meetings offered by the LFS team and meetings with the entire network. Check out the Language Friendly School website for more information on why and how to make a school language friendly!
The Indigenous-Led Education (ILED) Network was established in 2020 to combat the marginalisation of Indigenous peoples in formal education systems and support grassroots initiatives that preserve Indigenous knowledge, languages, and cultures. Facing challenges like human rights abuses and cultural erosion, Indigenous communities are developing their own educational solutions. ILED connects these efforts, providing a platform to share and sustain traditional practices for future generations. Launched in January 2021, the network empowers Indigenous educators globally, promoting inclusive and resilient education that honours Indigenous ways of life. Check out the Indigenous-Led Education Network for more information on how to donate and support the ILED Network!