The 2024 Esperanto World Congress is kicking off in Tanzania from August 4 to 10.
This year, the Esperanto World Congress is being held on the African continent for the first time in the 137-year history of the international language.
And the event is staged in East Africa, with Tanzania which happens to be the seat of the community, playing host in the country’s Northern City, believed to be located at an exact point between Cape Town and Cairo.
Nearly 830 participants from 66 countries have registered for the 109th Esperanto World Congress taking place in Arusha City.
After several decades of increasing spread of Esperanto in Africa, this first World Congress on the continent is yet another milestone achievement for the international community of Esperanto speakers.
160 congress participants from Tanzania
The Host country has a total of 160 participants while other delegates hail from more than a dozen of other African countries.
The list of countries of origin is a colorful mix from Australia, Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Esperanto: the language of equality
One of the reasons why Esperanto is so attractive to Africans is that it is not a colonial language, but allows equal participation in international communication.
This can also be seen in the literature of Esperanto: the authors of the original literature have dozens of native languages and cultures from all over the world. The translated Esperanto literature also comes from many different countries – the Esperanto speakers want to present their culture to their international community.
Congress theme: “Language, people and the environment for a better world”
‘Lingvo, homo kaj medio por pli bona mondo’
The theme of this year’s congress is “Language, people and the environment for a better world” (Lingvo, homo kaj medio por pli bona mondo).
A series of events will be held on this topic, such as “The contribution of environmental protection to the development of the East African Community” (La kontribuo de Medio-protektado por la evoluo de Orienta Afrika Komunumo) and “Communication in individual countries – comparison between Africa and Europe”.
Traditional culture in Burundi and The Grand Canal in China
Many other lectures await the congress participants – on Africa, such as “Ores in South Africa”, “African Philosophy Today and in the Future” or “Traditional Culture in Burundi” as well as on other continents such as “Stefan Zweig as a European Writer” or “The Great Canal in China”.
Language courses: Esperanto and Swahili
Esperanto language courses for beginners and conversation will be offered at the congress; there will also be training for Esperanto teachers.
A language course will also be offered for the language of the host country, Swahili.
Learning Swahili was also the task in a competition – for 50 days, from 15 June to the congress, the aim was to learn Swahili as well as possible. The test will take place at the congress on Friday, 9 August.
Esperanto culture: music, theatre and literature
There will be a series of concerts during the congress – Joel Muhire (Congo), Abel Massiala (Kabinda, Angola), Samba Faye (Senegal), Moses Byamungu (Bukavu, Congo), Saŝa Pilipovic (Kragujevac, Serbia), Georgo Handzlik (Poland) and jOmO (from Toulouse, France) will be performing.
Two theatre plays will also be performed – The Tree from Congo and a farce about the customs of Esperanto speakers.
Various Esperanto books will be presented in a series of “Aŭtoraj Duonhoroj” (half hours for an author): Literature such as poems by Jean de Dieu Kikako (Congo) or “Rimleteroj” (letters in rhyme) by the two Esperanto authors William Auld and Marjorie Boulton, but also a book on African cooking or a dictionary Esperanto-Haussa.
There is also a lecture on “The Budapest School”, which explored the literary possibilities of Esperanto as early as the 1920s.
Excursions
Tanzania will showcase its culture and tourism attractions forming part of the program.
During the congress, there will be walks in the city as well as smaller excursions.
On Wednesday, 7 August, there will be day trips. Destinations include the Arusha, Ngorongoro and Tarangire national parks, hot springs, a snake park, a Maasai village, a giraffe centre, the edge of Mount Kilimanjaro and a coffee plantation.
More excursions are offered during the pre-congress and post-congress, which include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and travelling to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
Getting to know each other personally
The offers at the congress are tempting – but for most congress guests, meeting old friends and getting to know people from different regions of the world is the main focus.
Esperanto for international communication
Esperanto is a simple and easy-to-learn language that supports direct encounters between people from all parts of the world on an equal footing.
No wonder that the language is becoming more and more widespread and recognised – from the daily news from China (esperanto.china.org.cn) to the recognition of Esperanto as a cultural heritage and cultural asset (Poland and Croatia, 2014 and 2019) to ChatGPT, which answers questions in Esperanto.