Nalu Cultural Heritage Preservation Project
By ensuring the preservation of the Nalu language, it is my hope to prevent the extinction of an entire culture.
My name is Bintou Camara, a specialist in sustainability, indigenous knowledge advocate, and founder of the non profit organization Evolution. Since 2017, NGO Evolution has operated effectively with its partners, including the UN systems and socially-conscious mining companies, to transform the remote villages and islands of Guinea into a thriving economic community to meets the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Through these generative efforts and collaborations, NGO Evolution has committed to establishing the socio-economic transformation of the rural populations and is primed to lead the Endangered language and spirituality Preservation Project to successfully save the cultural heritages of Guinea.
Today I am happy to announce that NGO Evolution is collaborating with Wikitongues and Living Tongues for the implementation of the Nalu Cultural Heritage Preservation Project in Guinea. The Project Mission is to preserve, revitalize, and promote the language for the 8 endangered tribes of Guinea. It is my belief that without a full understanding and appreciation of a culture’s past, it is nearly impossible to transition meaningfully into the future. By instituting action to preserve indigenous cultural heritage, the project supports long term solutions for the preservation of the respective Guinean cultures at the scale the issue demands for stability.
According to the UNESCO Atlas of Endangered Languages, Guinea is in danger of losing all 8: Nalu, Badiaranké, Baga Manduri, Baga Sitemu, Baga Binari (or Pukur), Mèni, Baga M’boteni, and Baga Kaloum. The most prevalent of the endangered languages, with a total population of 13,000, is Nalu. Nalu is most widely present in Guinea at 80%, with 20% of speakers residing in Guinea Bissau, and primarily spoken on the remote islands of Tristào in the sub prefecture of Kanfarandé, prefecture of Boké .
The existential threat to the Nalu endangered language and cultures of Guinea will be addressed by the collection and documentation of key cultural components such as the following:
-Data collection and documentation of the Nalu language and spirituality to be archived at the Guinean National Library and the US Library of Congress
-Development of audio and video documentation materials
-Establishment of Primary School books Programs
-Empowerment of households to educate themselves on the Nalu language and culture
-Publication of documents for the international public
-Restoration of the Nalu King Dinah Salifou Camara royale stately home in Sogoboli
By ensuring the preservation of the Nalu language, it is my hope to prevent the extinction of an entire culture. This preservation allows the Endangered Language Preservation Project to deliver the native population of Guinea into a position to thrive on a socio-economic level.
*The preservation of the Nalu spirituality documentation will be highlighted at the inaugural conference of Harvard Divinity School’s Program for the “Evolution of Spirituality”
The Program for the Evolution of Spirituality supports the scholarly study of emerging spiritual movements, marginalized spiritualities, and the innovative edges of established religious traditions. It also prepares students for ministry in these movements. Through conferences, field experiences, course offerings, and public lectures, the program expands HDS’s expertise in topics such as spirituality among the millennial generation, ecological spirituality, and the ethics of power in spiritual communities.
Together with my frequent collaborator, Stephen Reynolds of Golden Hour Creative Consulting, we have composed an in-depth presentation for the Harvard Divinity School and their Program for the Evolution of Spirituality Inaugural Conference. Our comprehensive focus on the revival of the Nalu Spirituality and implementation of indigenous educational systems will underscore and spotlight the work we’ve been performing to a wider international audience.
The theme for the inaugural conference will be “Ecological Spiritualities.” Presentations and workshops will explore the evolution of earth-based spiritual traditions and highlight innovative spiritual practices that are emerging in response to the painful realities of climate change, mass extinction, biodiversity loss, and the disruption of local and global ecosystems.
