Eva Agyemang

Ajami is a writing system that uses Arabic letters to write African languages. It has been used in different parts of Africa for many years, including West Africa. Languages such as Hausa, Wolof, and Swahili have been written using Ajami.

People used Ajami to write about religion, history, poetry, trade, and everyday life. Written materials, including manuscripts and religious texts, show how people used this system to record and share knowledge.

What interests me about Ajami is that it challenges the idea that African societies depended only on oral storytelling. Africans also had ways to write, read, teach, and preserve their history. As an elementary librarian, I think this would be a great way to help students understand that Africa has a rich history of literacy and learning that they may not have known about before.