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Dear Friends,
We won! Apart from that rather important fact, there is not much else to say this month, so we will send our next newsletter update in January after a well-deserved break. For those of you in the Northern hemisphere, enjoy winter, while we in South Africa enjoy a "sun shining brightly" Christmas.
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 WINNERS OF AN AFRICAN ICT ACHIEVERS AWARD
We made history this past week by winning the African ICT Achiever Award for bridging the digital divide in Africa. This is no small feat. The Translate.org.za team are grinning, not only with the glow of recognition for the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into this, but also that language issues are being acknowledged as part of the digital divide. I am excited because the ICT world, which is predominantly English, has finally recognised this connection, said Dwayne Bailey, It's always been about technology with none of the human issues being faced, but language is the unavoidable human issue and I am more than glad to see that this has at last come to the fore as an issue related to the digital divide.
Advocates for the language issue to be taken seriously in the technology arena are undoubtedly pleased. There are over 200 languages in Africa that have over a million mother tongue speakers each and as Dwayne pointed out in his acceptance speech, We have two choices - either to keep using computers in English, French and Portuguese and to endure the new form of colonisation or allow technology to work for us and use the technology in African mother tongue languages.
Breaking down the language barrier as part of enabling Africans to use technology in their mother tongue is something that Translate.org.za has been committed to for the past five years. To be recognised for this is excellent, not just for the organisation, but for the issue to be brought to the fore. We went to the awards prepared not to win as we are used to the industry not seeing the importance of this work, so were very surprised when they announced us as the winners, said Dwayne. Other contenders were the Computer for School Kenya and Khanya Technology in Education Projects.
Translate.org.za has received increased attention from the local and international media since the award ceremony. In just one week the award has opened doors for the organisation, not in the form of the much-needed support, but in gaining credibility and receiving credit where credit is due. Thank you so much for your ongoing interest and support as we face the impact that language has on the digital divide on our continent.
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Dwayne Bailey
 (012) 460 1095
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www.translate.org.za
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