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Kenya: Google Celebrates Renowned Professor Okombo With a Doodle

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4 years ago

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Nairobi — Google has published a doodle to honour and celebrate Prof Okoth Okombo, a renowned University of Nairobi linguistics professor.

Professor Okombo died in November 2017 while undergoing treatment at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi.

The celebration coincides with the scholar’s 71st birthday, if he was alive.

Prof Okombo is celebrated as one of the founders of the scientific study of sign language in Africa and a distinguished scholar in the field of Nilotic Language Studies.

“Local doodles provide a way for Google to connect with Kenyans about what matters to them and to help commemorate important moments. We have previously honoured Kimani Maruge, novelist Dr Margaret Ogola, Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai, and today we are celebrating a renowned scholar, Prof Okoth Okombo,” stated Shikha Monga, Country Marketing Manager, Google.

In the country, the scholar was the founder and director of the Kenyan Sign Language Research Project, based at the University of Nairobi.

The project has led to the publication of scientific works on the structure, vocabulary, and sociological properties of the deaf language.

It contributed to the recognition of the deaf community and subsequent introduction of practical use of the Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) in schools across all learning sectors as well as many other domains of public life.

This opened new opportunities in life for deaf people and created new career paths, where students undertake graduate studies in sign language and are employed as sign language interpreters.