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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Oct. 15, 1964
Students Tackle African Language—Swahili
Swahili, the language of about 65 million African people, is being taught to 22 KU students by Walter Bgoya, United Republic of Tanganyika senior.
Walter decided to teach the course because of a lack of African courses at KU. "Missing Africa is purely ridiculous," he said, "At least three or four courses should be offered. Now a student can graduate from KU without hearing a word about Africa."
A STUDENT of international relations, Bgoya feels communications with Africa would be improved with American knowledge of Swahili. He also thinks Peace Corps volunteers to Africa would be better prepared knowing Swahili.
"If the class is successful it will show the university students are interested. Then the university might take it over as a course," he added.
Bgoya also considers this course a way to say "thank you" for the scholarship he has and to contribute positively to the university.
LAST SEMESTER Bgoya started a smaller class. This semester the KU-Y took over the administration of the course by printing material and getting in touch with students. Tuition is $5.
Bgoya only uses the $2.50 teach-yourself text as a guideline. "I
take the most useful words and form sentences. This gives the students a feel of the language," he said. "I hope to impart some African culture to them and make them more interested in Africa."
Later he hopes to make tapes.
"This is not too important because Swahili is not hard to pronounce. So far all of my students have made A's."
AT PRESENT the course is not
given for credit. At the end of the semester an exam will possibly be given from the University of California, Los Angeles. If they pass this exam, credit might be transferred to KU.
Swahili is spoken mostly in Eastern Africa and the Congo. It is a mixture of many Bantu languages. "A bantu is an ethnic group of Eastern and Central Africa," Bgoya said.
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