Techies develop application to preserve African culture

Faced with the prospect of losing elements of African culture to modern technology, techies have designed an application to complement traditions.

"Technology has changed our way of life. Some of our traditions are on the brink of extinction; people no longer know their culture, and we must find a way to immortalize African content," said John Wesonga, CEO of Multiple Choices Limited.

To achieve this objective, Wesonga developed Mizizi, a free story-collection site. Mizizi, meaning "roots" in Swahili, allows users to log on to write or orally record their stories.

While African traditions were previously passed from one generation to the next orally, modern education, urbanization and technology have left children without the time to listen to stories from their grandparents.

“I cannot remember the last time I sat beside my grandparents for a conversation regarding their experiences or our heritage,” said Nick Mwangi, a computer programmer in Nairobi. “I hear that my great-grandfather fought with British troops in Burma during World War II, but I do not know the details.”

"Mizizi will definitely help many young people," Mwangi said. "We do not want to lose our history, but there is so much happening. Having it available online, whether voice or data, is good."

Wesonga launched the corporate blogging platform last year, and it will now be available to communities. The platform can easily be customized to many languages, and Wesonga calls it “the WordPress for Africa.” He also noted that Multiple Choices will partner with Digital Villages to make the open-source application available for download in remote areas.

“With the applications, one can use a mobile phone to send a short text to a number, and the story will be published immediately, wherever you are," he said. "If you feel like blogging or telling a story, we make it possible."

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.