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A young Tanzanian student reads the traditional Korean folktale ‘Heungbu and Nolbu’ in Swahili.

“A long, long time ago, there were two brothers named Heungbu and Nolbu. The greedy older brother, Nolbu, took all the money their father had left for them, and poor Heungbu had to live all by himself. One day, Heungbu saw a swallow with a broken leg…”

A boy reads out loud the Korean folktale “Heungbu and Nolbu,” not in Korean, but in Swahili.

Korean folktales in Swahili have now been introduced to Tanzanian schools. Kusimama, a non-profit organization that helps develop women’s independence in East Africa, has published some 2,000 copies of Korean folktales in Swahili and English, and has donated the books to 17 primary schools and educational centers across Tanzania whose children don’t have access to many opportunities to read books in their indigenous language.

Five Korean folktales were published in Swahili: “Heungbu and Nolbu,” “The Princess and the Idiot,” “Old Man and Goblins,” “A Rabbit and A Turtle” and “The King Has Donkey Ears”. The books include pictures of traditional Korean clothes and customs, and local Tanzanian businesses helped to publish the books.

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Tanzanian students read Korean folktales in Swahili at school.

After holding a donation ceremony at the United African University of Tanzania on Aug. 11, Kusimama delivered the books to the target schools and libraries. “Educational institutes and teachers are asking us how to get the books. We assume that requests for the books are sincere, since there’re not many books published in Swahili except for textbooks,” said Kushimama.

Abubakari, one of the students at Mizimbini Primary School who was able to read the story, said that “I had to go to a friend’s house when I wanted to read, since books are too expensive and there aren’t a lot of books at school. One day, if possible, I want to read science and history books from Korea.”

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Moroccan and Korean children enjoy a Hangeul class whose structure is modeled after traditional private Confucian seodangvillage schools.

Meanwhile across the continent in Morocco, 15 Moroccan and Korean children were learning together how to write Hangeul in a private class, a one-off event inspired by traditional Confucian seodang village schools.

The seodang class was organized to mark the reopening of the multipurpose room at the Korean Embassy in Morocco as the Korea-Morocco Sarangbang Room, and Korean Ambassador in Morocco Park Dong-sil taught the children the Korean alphabet that day.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the children focused diligently on the teacher’s lessons, laughed among themselves, and quite enjoyed the traditional Korean atmosphere and learning experience.

By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
icchang@korea.kr