In South Sudan, we celebrated the Francophonie week, which ended with a ceremony on Saturday, March 19, at the French Institute in Juba. However, this East African country is not a French-speaking country, English being its official language since its independence in 2011, and Arabic remains the majority there alongside the many South Sudanese languages.
With our correspondent in Juba, Florence Miettaux
French is a language of interest in South Sudan. Despite a lack of teachers, there are around 6,000 schoolchildren and students learning it in the country.
Anakleto Daniel Puja is one of the French-speaking South Sudanese. He learned French in the Central African Republic by force of circumstance, in the 1990s, when he had fled the war in his country of origin.
have opportunities
Today he is a French teacher and his students are motivated: “ It is thanks to this language today that I earn my daily bread. So my students also had the interest of learning French when they saw me: I am South Sudanese and I speak French, so why not them too, as South Sudanese, they could not speak French too? It is in this perspective that we work: through French, they can have opportunities. »
Charity Daniel, 24, won the writing competition organized for the Semaine de la francophonie. In her text, she declares her passion for the French language, which she was able to learn when she lived in Lebanon.
“ The French language for the future is not just for me, but I would also like the French language to be accessible to the majority of South Sudanese. And I also have this desire to teach French to others. And the second desire is also to be an ambassador and to work in French-speaking countries. »
►Also read: Francophonie : “ there is no conflict between French and the national languages »