Fifth graders are working hard learning our songs for the Breakfast with Santa in a few weeks. One of the songs is "Heri Za Kwanzaa." It contains a lot of Swahili words. Since international night is coming up, this is the perfect time to talk a little about this language from Africa.
Swahili is the primary language in the countries of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It can be written with Arabic or Roman (English) letters.
In our song, we sing about character traits:
Umoja- unity
Kujichagulia- self-determination
Ujima- work responsibility
Ujama- cooperative economics
Nia- purpose
Kuumba- creativy
Imani- faith
Other words in Swahili:
Jambo- hello
Asante- thank you
Hakuna Matata- no worries
Kwaheri- goodbye
Simba- lion
If you've ever watched "The Lion King," you probably already knew simba and hakuna matata. Now you can impress people by telling them what language those words are spoken in.
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