In a glass bottle community center, Juliana Loshiro teaches the Yaakunte language to a group of village elders. Despite the elders’ inability to speak the language, one student explains that his grandparents passed away before they could teach him Yaakunte and his mother, a Maasai, did not know it either. Loshiro is one of the few fluent speakers of Yaakunte and is determined to preserve her culture and language.
According to the United Nations’ Unesco World Atlas of Languages, Yaakunte is listed as “severely endangered” with only nine speakers. In 2010, Unesco even declared it extinct. However, Loshiro believes in giving Yaakunte a future.
Loshiro teaches around 300 students at the community center in Kuri Kuri village twice a week. The lessons not only focus on saving the language but also preserving the Yaakunte culture. The Mukogodo Forest, where the Yaaku tribe resides, holds significant importance for their traditions and livelihoods.
Loshiro believes that by saving the language, she can also safeguard their knowledge about forest flora and fauna. She takes her students to plant indigenous trees in the forest every week as part of their lessons.
The management of Mukogodo Forest has been handed over to the Yaaku community instead of Kenya Forest Service (KFS). Indigenous knowledge plays a crucial role in protecting ecosystems and combating climate change.
Loshiro learned Yaakunte from her grandfather who raised her after her parents passed away when she was seven years old. He taught her ten new words every day and punished her if she couldn’t remember them.
In recent years, there has been an increased sense of pride among the Yaaku people regarding their identity. While some linguists are skeptical about reviving an endangered language like Yaakunte through dedicated teachers alone, others believe that Loshiro’s efforts have potential.
Apart from teaching classes at Kuri Kuri village’s community center twice a week, Loshiro is working on various initiatives to preserve Yaakunte such as building a website and app for easier learning access; creating an audio archive; and developing a curriculum for primary schools.
Her ultimate goal is for children enrolled in her program to be fluent in five years while also having knowledge about their culture.
