By Carien Bloem, education manager at AfriForum
In November 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva, Switzerland with AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, Alana Bailey. Alana has been talking to European countries about minority rights for over ten years. She is an expert in the field of language rights and the challenges posed by the lack of mother tongue education, especially Afrikaans mother tongue education, in South Africa.
The theme for 2019’s forum was Language and Education and the challenges associated with it worldwide. To be part of such a large international forum where everyone would like to have their voice heard was an incredible experience. At first I felt overwhelmed, but I soon felt at home and realised that there is room for minorities in the world. The fact that you are part of a small group does not mean that you cannot make an impact. This is one of the reasons why AfriForum attends the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues every year.
Liaison with foreign countries is very important. Because AfriForum started building relationships years ago, the United Nations is familiar with our work and they know what it is worth. Our education and language problems are not the worst in the world and will not be solved overnight, but paving our path now will mean a lot to us in future.
Attending the forum gave me a new perspective. In South Africa, the pressure on Afrikaans education is worse than ever. It is upsetting that so few Afrikaans schools are left and that universities no longer use Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, but we have heard from groups who are not even allowed to speak their own language. There are also people born into slavery who do not have the right to education – in the 21st century!
Attendance of the forum is essential. AfriForum simply cannot wait until Afrikaans is completely abolished and it is too late to do anything; we must keep raising awareness about Afrikaans and Afrikaans education, both inside and outside South Africa. As a minority group, we make an impact – often greater than we might think.
