A Homecoming, An Appeal

This is one of the most important photos I have ever posted. This is one of my Endangered Alphabets carvings being celebrated and displayed in the small town of Nyandeyama, in Sierra Leone.

This ceremony and joyful gathering is part of the effort, led by the scholar Konrad Tuchscherer, to revive the Mende Kikakui script, which you can see on the sign. It’s a commemoration of the fact that small towns such as Nyandeyama kept the severely endangered script alive. In essence, it's a homecoming.

Konrad is currently teaching the script at university in Sierra Leone. His students are writing poems and proverbs in it, and making field trips to the small towns and villages where Kikakui never quite died out. The enthusiasm for the return of the script is, well, visible and undeniable.

This is the work of the Endangered Alphabets Project. Please help support the work I do by backing my current fundraising campaign at https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=27LZ2RCCFADNS. Thanks!