Interactive education through twitter

What are you planning to do this weekend? Yes, I mean what is on your to-do list this coming Saturday?

It doesn’t matter what you have already set out to do or rather who you are planning to meet, let me take this opportunity to welcome you to the free interactive Twitter-based class.

It’s not only a class which you can access from anywhere you are, but it’s a platform which lets you be either a teacher by sharing knowledge and expertise experience, a student by learning and asking questions or just an observer by following through what people are discussing and sharing.

This is on #ElimikaWikiendi, an open online space for Kiswahili lovers to dialogue about issues that are close to their lives via a mobile app, Twitter.

“#ElimikaWikiendi was founded in 2015, but started to operate officially in January 2016,” says Mr Paschal Masalu, the founder of #ElimikaWikiendi and a graduate of Banking and Finance from the Institute of Finance Management.

It will not be misleading to say that #ElimikaWikiendi is probably the leading educational and serious hashtag trending on Twitter which has drawn the attention of hundreds of thousands Twitter users both high profile individuals like politicians and TV personalities to students and young entrepreneurs.

According to data obtained from Twitter, #ElimikaWikiendi gets about 5 million impressions while extending its reach to about 1.5 million people on the social network.

The hashtag covers cross cutting issues which involves health, research, development, entrepreneurship, technology, Kiswahili knowledge plus top ten ‘did you know’ facts every Saturday.

Lilian John, a second year student at University of Dar es Salaam pursuing Bachelor of Arts in Political Science is one among hundreds others benefiting from #ElimikaWikiendi.

“First, I’m a keen lover of Kiswahili, the fact that the platform runs through the language and having a particular sessions of Kiswahili, #ElimikaWikiendi offers me with the best platform to know the language better including getting to know new vocabularies,” says Lilian.

As an upcoming poetess, Lilian says that #ElimikaWikiendi provides her with a stage to showcase her works and grow her exposure.

“I can say that #ElimikaWikiendi to me is like a place where I both learn and connect. I would just like to see it expand beyond being Twitter-based so that it can reach as many people as possible so that they can too benefit,” says the passionate poet.

Apart from using #ElimikaWikiendi to gain knowledge about various issues, Jalilu Zaid, a blogger in Mwanza and an all-time visitor of the platform, he uses it to share what he knows best.

“I often share my knowledge on Kiswahili proverbs and idioms so that people can understand the richness of this language,” he says.

Zaid thinks the platform helps particularly on the health issues which are touching to many people that he calls upon #ElimikaWikiendi team to be more creative in bringing issues which target daily lives.

Baraka Jereko, a Human Resource Manager at Musoma Fish Processors Limited, says that he has grown with #ElimikaWikiendi for almost a year now since its introduction.

“I appreciate it for its efforts to make complex issues look simple by explaining them in a language which most of us can not only understand but we also participate in airing our thoughts,” says Jereko.

Mr Masalu says that he was so disappointed with the fact that many people uses social networks only as a place to meet and chat about personal issues, sharing their beautiful and nice photos, but they can instead use the same platforms to drive out productive discussions.

“I thought if I can create a place where people can learn about many issues and also discuss ideas, it would be awesome,” says 25-year-old Masalu.

#ElimikaWikiendi use Kiswahili as a medium of instruction. Masalu says that he decided it on purpose so as to promote the use of the national language among Twitter community who most of the times prefer English to Kiswahili.

“I also wanted to make the platform free from language barriers so that ‘our people’ can confidently and comfortably expound on issues without the fear of language difficulty,” adds Masalu who is the fifth born in a family of seven.

#ElimikaWikiendi starts dialogues each Saturday morning between 8:00AM and 1:00PM with three online sessions on different subjects– each hosted by an online guest expert.

The first hour is spent on free Kiswahili idioms, sayings, phrases and quotes.

This is usually followed by an hour for health education normally hosted by medical doctors.

Guests and interested partners, normally two, will then follow and have an hour or one and half hour each on a subject of their interest.

As the name suggest, #ElimikaWikiendi takes place only on weekend, that is, Saturday, with the timetable of the coming subjects and lessons with the expected educators and guests being introduced as early as Wednesday so that the Twitter community may be aware of the lessons.

The sessions currently run on Twitter only but Masalu says that plans are underway to take it to other social networks like Facebook and others as well.

“We used Twitter as a starting point, in its nature and the nature of its users, Twitter is the easiest platform for conducting discussions,” he says.

Responding to why the sessions only take place because on weekend, Masalu says that it is because they are not working days.

“I saw that if I can allow #ElimikaWikiendi to be used on weekdays, I may miss some people and may also distract people’s works.”

How are the educators obtained? “Some of them make requests while others are suggested by the #ElimikaWikiendi users and friends on Twitter, and others come on special invitation,” Masalu says.

Dr Joachim Mabula is a clinician at Tanga City Council and a constant health educator on #ElimikaWikiendi who on the previous week took it to the platform to educate the ‘students’ about flu.

“I always tend to discuss health issues which most people experience in their lives and equip them with the knowledge of how to tackle them including how they can protect themselves from various diseases and infections,” he says.

He says that the platform lets him share his expertise with as many people as possible.

“The issue is that the platform has got many followers who depend upon it to get a vast of knowledge on various issues, this then allows you to gain a big exposure which you couldn’t get without #ElimikaWikiendi hashtag.”

Getting opposition from other people, getting distracting information during the lesson session since not all Twitter users are aware that the sessions are to give advantageous knowledge to people are among the common challenges facing #ElimikaWikiendi and education via social media in general.

“In most cases I take efforts to make people understand the mission of the platform and how they should behave,” says Masalu.

He says that some people just oppose the idea for no apparent reason but he hopes one day #ElimikaWikiendi will be a home to many.

Masalu looks up to make #ElimikaWikiendi an authorized connector between educators and online audience.

“I dream to see #ElimikaWikiendi going further and being the leading example in influencing the community on the importance of Swahili language and also the power of social media to provide general education in various issues,” he says.

Masalu calls upon the government to recognize initiative like his saying that #ElimikaWikiendi is just an example of how positively social networks can be used.

“People are getting knowledge through their social networks and we solve a lot of problems by giving out a free education,” he explains.

Masalu is certain that their model of educating the community is appreciated across the nation, “we will reach very far together and change the perception of many people that social networks are just for fun.”