To further increase awareness of this online community, I have created a Facebook page whereby we can get to know each other better and continue to share together what we know. Some of us are native Yawo speakers. Others are learning and want to practice. Others are simply just interested in the Yawo people or have Yawo friends.
If you are a Facebook member, come join us.
easyBibles.com exists to:
They further explain that “these Bible texts are written by local people for their own language group and at different reading levels to meet the needs of that language group. We want everyone, whatever their reading level, to be able to read some of the Bible for themselves, in their own mother-tongue.”
Naturally, since you are here, you’ll want to know what is available in Ciyawo. From Mozambique comes some translations from the gospels of John and Mark. Follow this link here. (listed under the “very easy” category). Further translations (from John’s gospel) can be found here, listed under “easy”.
“Ya caatiite kudiinganigwa cilaambo” is a 2004 pamphlet published in Lichinga, Mozambique. A story about the creation of the world, as taught in the Bible, this 4-page PDF is a good example of the orthography commonly used in northern Mozambique (at least at the time of its publishing).
Thanks to SIM for this contribution.
Fort Mangochi is a fascinating piece of history for Malawi and the east African slave trade in general. Located within the mountains close to Namwera and Majuni in Mangochi District, a hike of only a few hours reveals a place that should be a tourist destination, yet instead sits forgotten while locals collect firewood from trees nearby and elephants occasionally roam the bush.
Online searches reveal “Zambesi Sunrise“, an interesting account that mentions the fort, while the most comprehensive work I know of revealing the history of the fort comes from P.A. Cole-King’s Mangochi: the Mountain, the People and the Fort, available from the Society of Malawi in Blantyre.
I have hiked numerous times to the fort while living for 5 years close to the fort. Each time I learned a little something new, though never got the chance to explore caves nearby where I have heard artifacts from the era can still be unearthed. A shooting range nearby, shown to me by a local guide, was littered with metal shell casings.
If you plan to visit, I recommend driving to the village of Majuni a few KM from Namwera heading towards Mangochi. There is a road that heads down to the Balakasi Forest and an estate at the end known as Skull Rock. Parking is available and usually a local guide can be hired to show you the way.
Below, I include a few photos from previous visits:
In 2004, in order to help my language progress further, I produced some short videos using language assistants who would explain to me the various parts of certain crops they are familiar with planting and harvesting. I have included them in the following three posts, embedded from YouTube, in order to make these available to the general public. While possibly containing numerous errors on my part, at least the Ciyawo spoken by my assistants is purely of the style used in the Mangochi District of Malawi near Namwera, bordering Mozambique’s Niassa Province.
The Centre for Language Studies, based at the University of Malawi in Zomba, has released “Amendments and/or Additional Rules to Ciyawo Orthography”. Please find it attached here in PDF form.
