Sewa News Stream

"Let us all join forces to promote linguistic diversity and multilingualism as a key element in our efforts to build a better world and a life of dignity for all." --Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Message for International Mother Language Day 2014) Sorie Ibrahim Kanu, managing director, Let's Learn Our Languages  Today is International Mother Language Day. International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh. Today, the BBC reports that a debate is raging in Kenya over the use of mother languages in the east African nation's schools. A new government policy requires children under eight years of age be instructed in their m

Monday, February 17 is Presidents Day 2014 in the United States.   So as a small celebration of all American presidents I decided to read probably one of the best books on U.S. presidents past and present.   But before I bought Michael Beschloss’s “ The Presidents of the United States of America ” I made sure to read the “Most Helpful Customer Reviews” on Amazon. One of them, posted February 1, 2014, caught my eye. The writer said he’d been a tourist in Washington, D.C. some years ago (which I was many moons back). He also wrote that one of the reasons he’d been driven to buy the book for himself was because he’s a history major, which I am. Like the writer, I find Beschloss’s book attractive for its “portrait illustrations,” and for its “one page write ups” that are “non-partisan.” I also found his quote below insightful:   “The dignity of the Presidential Office is preserved by giving each President a sympathetic account starting with their birth, family and education.