AfriForum Youth celebrates International Mother Language Day

At 17:00 this afternoon, AfriForum Youth will read their last word in their 48 hour Afrikaans reading marathon. The marathon of the youth organisation kicked off at 17:00 on Thursday at the Bieliemielie Festival in Reitz in the Free State in celebration of International Mother Language Day.

“It’s a great privilege for us to celebrate International Mother Language Day in our own language. People blindly accept that their language has no expiry date, but for a language to flourish, it has to be spoken, read and lived. People have to work together to promote and protect a language,” Henk Maree, National Chairman of AfriForum Youth, said. 

“The retention of Afrikaans as language and as medium of instruction is of utmost importance to us, and AfriForum Youth will therefore continue initiating actions for the promotion of our beautiful language.” 

AfriForum Youth encouraged festival-goers to donate Afrikaans books to them, which will be distributed to schools in need.

“We are reading our throats dry, but it’s so fulfilling to see how many festival-goers make a pit stop at our exhibit to find out more about the goal of our reading marathon. The book donations are also looking great. We have received about 100 Afrikaans books so far which will be used to empower many children.”