My Nonprofit Reviews

I encountered the work of Wuqu' Kawoq last year and was deeply impressed by the vision behind the organisation. As a professional linguist working in developing countries, I was greatly relieved to find an organisation taking a well-argued, positive stance towards indigenous languages. Wuqu' Kawoq embraces local linguistic and cultural heritage by bringing primary health care to the people in their own language.

It is one thing to make primary health care physically available; it is another thing to make it culturally intelligible. Many ambitious projects fail to take into account this second, crucial step. As a result, they often contribute to language loss; but not only that, their results are also less than optimal because of linguistic and cultural barriers.

In a time when so many non-profits operate with Western monoglot ideologies and simply use the major Western languages (which in developing countries often happen to be languages of former colonial oppressors), it is refreshing to see a non-profit realising the importance of local cultural heritage and language diversity. This choice is one of the keys to WKs remarkably successful work.

More Feedback