Adventist World English - January 2022

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n October 2020 Adventist Review Ministries, in partnership with the East-Central Africa Division (ECD), made history: the first Kiswahili edition of the Adventist World magazine was delivered digitally via WhatsApp, free of charge. Why in Kiswahili, and why on a mobile platform? KISWAHILI

Kiswahili, also known as Swahili, is an indigenous East African Bantu language, with about 35 percent of its vocabulary stemming from Ara-

bic, owing to 12 centuries of history with Arabic peoples. It’s becoming the lingua franca of East Africa and many parts of Central Africa. Until 2020 Kiswahili represented the largest language group within the worldwide Adventist Church not yet served by the Adventist World magazine. Both Adventist Review Ministries and the ECD leadership have long wanted to publish a Kiswahili edition of Adventist World, not only to provide translated material in Kiswahili, but to offer 25 percent of the content in articles written by original

Faith in Action

Adventist World for Kiswahili the Speakers With help of

WhatsApp

Kiswahili-speaking authors from within the ECD territory. The ECD currently is the largest and fastest-growing division within the Adventist Church,1 followed closely by the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID). It serves the countries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania. Six of these countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda) use Kiswahili, as do people in northern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and the Comoro Islands in the SID territory. Many Kiswahili speakers live in the African diaspora. Surprisingly, the challenges of a worldwide pandemic provided the opportunity to implement the long-desired plan for a Kiswahili Adventist World, and on a unique platform—a WhatsApp channel. WHY WHATSAPP?

According to the GSMA’s Mobile Economy Reports, by 2025, 1 billion people will have access to a SIM connection in Africa, a 3.7 percent increase from the 2017 statistics. A growth in mobile phone access presents economic growth opportunities. Kenya’s mobile growth from 1 percent access in the late 1990s to 39 percent in 2014 is an example. It played a major role in the country’s growing economy, alongside exciting technological innovations. Pew Research Center now puts Kenya at 80 percent and Tanzania at 75 percent mobile access, even though these percentages are still significantly lower regarding smartphones.2 WhatsApp is currently considered the world’s most popular messaging app in both the personal and business sectors, and is especially used in the Global South.3 It provides an additional platform when sharing content with church


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