Paris – UN human rights advisor Chris Mburu turned his Kenyan hometown of Mitahato into something unexpected: a French-speaking village. After learning the language himself later in life, Mburu is determined to give local children a head start – opening doors to career and education opportunities across Africa and beyond. He shared his vision with RFI at the Festival de la Francophonie in Paris.
RFI: Why did you create a French-speaking village in Mitahato?
Chris Mburu: I wanted the children of my village to learn French very early. I learned French late, and though it helped me tremendously, I believe my career could have gone in a better direction had I learned it sooner.
So I want the kids in my village to have this advantage. They can get jobs in francophone countries and go to university. And they have an added advantage because they already speak English.
In Kenya, most children already speak three languages because there's the mother tongue, there's Swahili, which is the national language, and there's English. If you add French, you have four languages, and that's extremely important for the world today.
RFI: You are based in DR Congo with the UN. Do you need to speak French for your job?
CM: Yes. I would not have gotten this job if I didn't speak French because nobody speaks English in my teams. It is a huge advantage. A lot of anglophones cannot get this kind of job because they do not speak French.
So this is another example of why I keep preaching this whole idea of bilingualism.
Inside Mitahato, the Kenyan village where residents speak French
RFI: You were invited to Paris this week to talk about Mitahato. What’s next for your French language initiative in Kenya?
CM: I really hope that the children in my village learn this language and use the village as a prototype, an experimentation of how French can be expanded nationwide.
Many Kenyans can be encouraged to learn French and seek opportunities in the francophone world... in France, but also in francophone Africa.
What people don't realise is that there's more French spoken in Africa than English, so it's extremely important, even for our own African integration, for people to learn French.
RFI: What about French in East Africa?
CM: In East Africa, there is a big initiative to have people speak French, and I'm glad to see governments encouraging that. It's practical given we have a number of neighbouring countries that are francophone.
Two years ago, the DRC became a member of the East African Community. That's huge. There are 100 million people [in the DRC], many of whom speak only French. So there are big opportunities. Trade, education and career – opportunities for everybody.
The importance of French cannot be underestimated in East Africa because we are in a moment of change. There are so many things happening, integration is going on and we cannot be isolated.
It's extremely important that not only governments encourage the learning and teaching of French, but also try to join organisations like the OIF, the International Francophonie Organisation, to get the benefits that come with that.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
