How the oral language of Daza became a written one

Following the development of the Teda language in northern Chad, Daza academic Mohamed Abakar wondered how he too could develop his own mother tongue into a written language for his home village? Together with linguist Rivers Camp, the duo set up Chad’s first ever Daza school in Teriturenne. Today, MAF is flying them to Bardai where they will speak at the annual Teda writing awards.

In November 2017, Daza academic Mohamed Abakar and linguist Rivers Camp arrive in Bardai – Chad’s extreme north – by MAF plane and are greeted enthusiastically by their host Mark Ortman from the Association pour le Développement et la Paix (ADP) who developed the Teda alphabet and first published the language in 1998.

Without MAF, Mohamed and Rivers would have to travel overland for up to five days across the Sahara Desert. But from the capital N’Djamena, it only takes MAF six hours.

Mark Ortman (L) greets Rivers Camp (C) & Mohamed Abakar (R) (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Daza is a subgroup and language predominantly spoken in northern Chad and eastern Niger. Teda is their neighbouring subgroup and the Teda language is closely related to Daza.

The Daza and the Teda make up the Toubou people – pastoralists who live off the land.

Teda leaders who have driven from Libya, meet MAF’s passengers and Mark in Bardai – a desert oasis on the edge of the Tibesti Mountains. It’s home to the Toubou people and the place where the Teda language was first written down.

The next day, the party join Teda learners at Mosko Hanadii-i Cultural Centre in Bardai, which is hosting an annual event celebrating the winners of the 2017 writing competition.

An honourable guest – the regional governor – arrives. Centre manager Isaaka and Odji – a leader in Teda language development – extend their welcome to scores of invited guests including Mohamed and Rivers.

Daza develops into a written language

From its humble beginnings nurtured by Mohamed and Rivers, the Daza language has come a long way.

Rivers first followed Teda’s language development from a village on the other side of the Tibesti.

Give that the Teda and Daza people were neighbours, there was an opportunity for the Daza to use the same alphabet to start their own literacy movement.

In 2013, Chadian and Daza speaker Mohamed Abakar was finishing his master’s degree in International Criminal Law in the UK when he had an epiphany:

‘I was at university in the UK when my home village Teriturenne didn’t even have a primary school. It wasn’t right!’

Daza academic Mohamed Abakar & MAF passenger

As he wondered what he could do about it, Mohamed emailed Rivers Camp, who he had met a few years earlier through a MAF Chad engineer. They discussed how to start a school in Teriturenne.

Once at the village, Mohamed and Rivers began by talking to the community to get their support for a Daza school. ‘One man said, “you know, our kids don’t speak French or Arabic. If it’s not in our language, how are they going to learn anything?”‘

As the man’s words sunk in, Rivers realised that, not only was the community asking the right questions, ‘We had stumbled upon the one place in the whole of northern Chad where we could do this! Everywhere else had been very closed off to the idea of Daza literacy and a local language school.

‘No one else saw any benefit of it. People would say, “why should we learn our language, we already know our language?” Nobody could make the connection that you use your language to learn everything else you don’t know.’

Building a school from scratch

Getting agreement from the community was just the start. It would take 9,000 bricks to build three classrooms in Teriturenne.

They asked the villagers to make the bricks to get the project off the ground. One young man, Yisip, made the first 2,000 bricks all by himself. Impressed by his commitment, they asked him to become the school’s first teacher.

Yisip said, ‘I’ve never been to school, how am I going to be a teacher?’ River said, ‘we’ll teach you!’ and sat with him for three months teaching him to read.

In order to make the school a success, Mohamed would have to oversee the school in its early stages. Amazingly, Mohamed was able to arrange his work at Islāmic University in N’Djamena to facilitate this new venture.

For two years, Mohamed worked all weekend teaching in the city and Monday to Friday he would teach in Teriturenne.

Every Sunday afternoon, Mohamed drove eight hours from the city to teach in the village Monday morning, and every Friday afternoon he would drive eight hours back to teach at university Saturday morning!

Rivers would spend the week writing the school curriculum for Mohammed to teach the following week – a relentless relay. ‘Every week Mohammed would come back and I’d give him the next thing he needed.’

And so the school progressed, and four years later, 90 students attended the white-washed school topped by the Chadian flag flapping in the wind.

Literacy opens doors

Many pupils took to learning Daza like ducks to water, speeding through the entire primary curriculum in just four years.

Mohamed claims that some of the teachers he trained are better teachers than him! The school now has three French teachers and three Daza teachers. Classes are taught in both languages and another secondary school has opened.

Daza books are becoming more advanced as the students progress – from natural science to Daza folklore, to books about malaria and the human anatomy.

Well-loved children’s stories have also made it into the mix. ‘The Little Red Hen’ has become a favourite as has ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ with its message of ‘slow and steady wins the race!’, which encourages slower learners to persist.

Literacy is the key, but teaching students to think and decide for themselves is also very important.

By encouraging discussion and debate and highlighting subjects like equality and women’s rights, Mohamed is starting important conversations. ‘They are developing skills of critical reasoning.’

Empowering women through literacy

The annual Teda writing awards are motivating students in Bardai to write things down.

It’s time for the next generation of Teda to be heard through their own books, the internet and media.

Literacy is also an opportunity to learn other languages. Once learners grasp the Latin-script alphabet, global languages like French are within reach.

Two French encyclopaedias on display to be given away as prizes, will open the door to a wider world of knowledge at their fingertips.

The winners – mostly women and girls – receive their prizes shyly then quickly exit the stage.

With young men away mining the gold fields, the centre’s student base is predominantly female, so although Toubou men traditionally hold positions of authority, it will be the women who will teach their children to read and write.

Amina wins top prize

This year, 20-year-old Amina scoops the coveted prize. It’s her first attempt at writing an essay in Teda.

Amina is awarded top prize by the regional governor (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Amina was raised in Libya by her grandmother and grew up learning Arabic in school while speaking Teda at home.

When she moved to her mother’s home in Bardai as a teenager, she had no understanding of French taught in Chad’s schools.

She took her first course at Mosko Hanadii-i Centre and learnt to read and write Teda every weekend for six weeks with extraordinary zeal.

Mosko Hanadii-i Centre founders Anja and Simon are particularly impressed with her progress: According to Anja:

‘She barely knew the Latin-script alphabet, but during this course she learned how to express herself in her mother tongue and write an essay. It was only one page, but a big step!’

For the first time, Amina could understand her own language at a deeper level as if decoding a message. A few weeks into the course, she could read short stories to her nieces in Teda. Anja is amazed:

‘Amina who could barely construct a sentence in French, wrote an essay in her own native language and won top prize!’

Amina’s essay in Teda is read out to the audience (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

This year’s theme celebrated Teda’s identity. Amina made her position clear:

‘If we throw away our traditions, what is left for us? Teda, wherever you live – Libya, Niger or Chad – do not throw away your culture. You are Teda!’

Amina has successfully gone on to make animations in her own language. She says:

‘Before the centre opened, nobody knew how to read or write Teda. It brought a lot of knowledge to the people of Bardai and Teda people in general.

‘The centre helps in many ways. I use books to look things up and they show movies. I bring my little nephew to there to study with other kids.’

Amina – 2017 winner of Teda Writing Awards & MAF beneficiary

Simon is so proud of Amina and her journey is an inspiration to others he says:

‘Amina’s story is a great encouragement to us. She is expressing a range of possibilities in her mother tongue – writing, presenting and distributing her own ideas.

‘Through Amina and others, the language of the Teda and its cultural identity will live on.’

Amina: ‘Do not throw away your culture. You are Teda!’ (credit: LuAnne Cadd)