The words "facemask" and "hand sanitiser" are now familiar the world over, but for isiZulu speakers in South Africa those terms did not exist a year ago, until a group of volunteers took to the internet to create them.

From Wikipedia posts in Indigenous tongues to digital word libraries, African language lovers are going online to preserve and create words and content for future generations — an effort that has been given added urgency by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Language is very important, it's the tool we use to communicate our understanding of the world," said Perrymason Adams, 39, an accountant in South Africa who volunteers with WikiAfrica, a project to increase Wikipedia content in African languages.

With recurring lockdowns around the world to stem the spread of COVID-19, rights groups warn that the digital divide separating those who can learn and work online from those who cannot deepens already existing inequality.

Online access is growing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, with internet penetration in the region surging to 25% of the population in 2019 against less than 1% in 2000, according to the World Bank.

But research shows even Africans who can get on the web often struggle to find content they can relate to.

According to the World Economic Forum, one of the main reasons many Africans do not go online when they can is "lack of content in local languages".

This is a big drive behind WikiAfrica, which since it was launched by the Moleskine Foundation in 2006 has contributed more than 40,000 written entries, as well as images, audio, and video files, to the widely popular online encyclopedia.

During the pandemic, translating information around social distancing, masks, and sanitisers has become crucial, said Adams, who has volunteered to translate material to isiZulu and isiXhosa, another South African language.

Read the full article about translating information during COVID-19 by Kim Harrisberg and Kristi Eaton at Global Citizen.