Tyap Wikimedians User Group/Community/Newsletter/April-June 2026
This is the 2nd newsletter of the Tyap Wikimedians User Group.
Volume 1 | Issue 2 | June 27th, 2026
- User group news
APRIL HIGHLIGHTS
Mentor Me! 2026 (First Stream) (03rd April–27th June 2026)
he Mentor Me! mentorship program returned this year to support both new and existing Wikimedians across Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. With about 72 participants registered, the program ran online on Fridays and in-person on Saturdays at AX1, Aliyu Makama Road, Barnawa, Kaduna, NG.
- April's sessions covered on-wiki collaboration with the CampaignEvents Extension by Benedict, Wikidata editing for beginners by Halima, organising Wikipedia content with categories by Amir, and citation and referencing basics by Zasan. All sessions were recorded and shared on YouTube.
Wiki Audio Walk 2026 (11th April–31st May 2026)
he 2026 Wiki Audio Walk recording campaign was a build-up on the first one held about a year ago. In 2025, five Tyap Mabatado-speaking communities including Sagwaza, Manyi-Aghyui, Ashong-Ashyui, Cenkwon, and Tum, were visited, and using the Swadesh list, translations were collected and variations noted down and recorded. In 2026, the attention was shifted to the other six Tyap dialects including Tuku, Fantswam, Takad, Sholyio, Cacrak, and Gwolog, including Jju, a fellow Tyapic language. 200 basic vocabulary from the Swadesh list were collected, recorded on YouTube and on mobile audio recorders, and translations written down with variations taken note of. Ahead of the main recording exercise, the team spent the first few weeks identifying contact persons across the dialect communities, laying the groundwork for the fieldwork that followed. Between April 11th and 17th, the team consisting of Kambai, Kuyet, Gwakhap, and Kazashim, visited host communities, to meet with the contact persons and get the data collected. Between 11th and 17th May, the team travelled to host communities to record native speakers directly, with each visit hosted by a local traditional ruler or family: Tuku in Atuku, Fantswam in Kafanchan, Takad in Mafwuong, Sholyio in Manchok, Cacrak in Gizagwai, Gwolok in Kukum-Uli, and Jju in Du̱byyi-Zonkwa. All sessions were filmed and shared on YouTube.
- However, a setback for this work is that the team did not go with collar mics to make clearer recordings of their correspondents, making the recordings noisy most of the time, and the date fixed for the project seemed to be insufficient, causing the ending date to be extended from April 30th to May 31st.
- The words gathered are as of June 26th, being organized for a more polished round of recording using Lingua Libre, before the final sound files are attached to the Swadesh list tables on Wikimedia Commons.
KASU Librarians Outreach (27th April 2026)
he Tyap Wikimedians made an outreach visitation to the Kaduna State University Library to introduce Wikimedia editing to the librarians present. The team was invited by Dr. Khali, a librarian from the school, who herself became a Wikimedian, and wanted her students to become Wikimedians as well, to contribute to the sum of all human knowledge.
MAY HIGHLIGHTS
Mentor Me! 2026 (First Stream) (03rd April–27th June 2026)
he program carried on through May with sessions on adapting templates for Wikimedia projects by Farouk, documenting languages using Wikidata Lexemes by Gwakhap, the new Chart Extension by Jan, contributing to English Wikipedia by Mustapha, contributing to Film & TV content by Ceslause, and strengthening articles with credible references by Ramatu.
Wiki Language Advocacy (Wikilangad)
he Tyap Wikimedians User Group (TWU) also advanced its language advocacy movement using videography began in January 2026, by the culminating the initiative into the term, Wikilangad, on May 16th. This initiative is a project using audio-visual content to raise awareness about why languages must be protected, documented, and promoted. Beyond awareness, it aims to advocate for stronger language rights policies and build partnerships with NGOs and government bodies.
TWU KASU Hub (26th May 2026)
n 26th May, the TWU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kaduna State University (KASU) library, thereby establishing a Wikimedia hub editing hub in that school. Dr. Khali would lead the activities of the TWU KASU Hub in KASU as Kuyet provides support from the TWU.
JUNE HIGHLIGHTS
Wiki Loves Earth 2026 in the Middle Belt (01st–30th June 2026)
or the first time, the TWU organizes the Wiki Loves Earth campaign in collaboration with the Igala Wikimedia Community, with the campaign name, Wiki Loves Earth 2026 in the Middle Belt. The campaign invited contributors to take photos or videos of protected natural areas in the region, including their plants and animals, and upload them to Wikimedia Commons, with the goal of documenting and sharing the Middle Belt's natural heritage with the world.
- The event drew about 24 registered participants.
Entries would be judged on technical quality, originality, and usefulness to Wikimedia projects, especially Wikipedia.
- Prizes for the Middle Belt contest are ₦50,000 for 1st place, ₦40,000 for 2nd place, ₦30,000 for 3rd place, and ₦50,000 for the video prize.
Africa Wiki Challenge 2026 (10th June–10th July 2026)
n the 10th of June, the community joined the Africa Wiki Challenge 2026, organised by Open Foundation West Africa (OFWA) under the theme "Water for Life in Africa." The campaign encourages contributors across the continent to create and improve articles on rivers, lakes, wetlands, water governance, sanitation, and the effects of climate change on water resources, in step with the African Union's 2026 theme on water and sanitation. This year's edition, led by Kuyet, as in the previous one, is limited to the Tyap Wikipedia, with the event page A̱yangka̱nan Wuki Afi̱rika 2026 mi̱ Naijeriya currently, as of June 26th had 16 registered participants.
Kambari Wikipedia Outreach
nother was the successful outreach in the year after the Jukun Wapan's was the Kambari Wikipedia Outreach program, held between June 12th–14th, 2026, in Salka, Nigeria. The group extended its outreach to a new language community this quarter as a collaborative outreach program between the Nenzit Wikimedians, the Tyap Wikimedians, and the Language Development and Translation Initiative (LDTI) – formerly Kambari Language Project (KLP).
The Shingini or Kambari languages consist of three main languages namely: Tsishingini (spoken in the Salka area), Cishingini (spoken in the Agwara area), and Tsikimba (spoken in the Auna area), and the Kambari Wikipedia translations in the Wikimedia Incubator and on Translatewiki were aimed at the Tsishingini variant. However, translations were done in the three variants (in the Incubator only), to help speakers of the other two variants get a taste of what they can have in the future. Contributors worked through a growing list of vocabulary and topics, from everyday words to Nigerian states and world regions, marking another step in bringing more of Nigeria's indigenous languages into the open knowledge movement of the Wikimedia Foundation.
The project was led by Gwakhap, and the facilitation by Kambai, and supported by Kuyet. Local organizers included Danladi, the LDTI team, and Ali.
There were 48 registered participants on the Meta-Wiki project page dashboard, with a few others who could not register due to one challenge or the other.
Key outcomes include:
- Introduction to Wikimedia projects
- Hands-on training in article creation and editing
- Creation of about 120 new articles in the Wikimedia Incubator
There was a courtesy visit by the team to the Mogono Salka, who happily entrusted the activities of the team to the LDTI, and hoped the team gets to help contribute to the digitization of the Tsishingini language and preserving it for the protection of the identity of the people.
Mentor Me!
he first stream of the Mentor Me! program closes today being 27th June. However, this month featured both online and in-person sessions on OpenRefine for structured data by Jinoy, the journey from reader to editor by Francis, a walkthrough of CapX by Amanda, and a closing reflection on the program's impact and the skills gained by participants by Kuyet.
Bole Wikipedia about to go live!
ollowing the Jju Wikipedia's approval on 20th December 2025 and later on Karai-Karai Wikipedia's, the Wikimedia Language Committee on 23rd June 2026 approves another language spoken in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, the Bole Wikipedia! This would be the 14th language spoken in Nigeria to have its Wikipedia edition. The efforts invested by El-hussain and team have paid off. At the moment, other languages from the region currently in the Incubator include the Berom Wikipedia, Hyam Wikipedia, and Jukun (Wapan) Wikipedia, among others.
- Upcoming training
Tyap Wiki Bootcamp Season 3 Program (03rd July–15th August 2026)
e are happy to notify all Tyap-speaking editors and aspiring editors of the kickstarting of the season 3 of the Tyap Wiki Bootcamp, to aid you in being literate in the Tyap language. At the end of this program, we expect you to become valuable Wikimedia editors who contribute to Tyap language related projects, to promote open knowledge in that very language. Participants shall be trained online for six weeks with lessons occurring 07:00 pm (WAT) on Fridays from July 03rd all the way down to August 07th. Those who show commitment shall be selected for the three-day in-person session happening between 13th and 15th August, in which they shall be contributing to Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons.
- Schedule:
- Online sessions: Fridays at 07:00 PM (WAT) – except where indicated otherwise (please see event page)
- In-person sessions: Saturdays at 09:00 AM (WAT) to 09:00 PM (WAT)
This training provides a supportive environment for literacy, Wiki editing mentorship, and community engagement.
Participants are encouraged to fill this form by or before the end of June 28th and take advantage of this opportunity.
- Available grants
igeria National Funding Program (NNFP)
The Nigeria National Funding Program is now available to support Wikimedia activities nationwide.
This program offers flexible funding for individuals and community organizers.
- Application Details:
- Cycle 3: June 1 – June 30, 2026
- Apply now: https://w.wiki/HkxS
Community members are encouraged to apply and bring their ideas to life through impactful projects.
- Looking ahead
s we move into the third quarter, the Tyap Wikimedians User Group remains committed to:
- Expanding our reach to new language communities
- Documenting more of our dialects and neighbouring languages
- Strengthening partnerships for language and environmental advocacy
- Preparing for the organization's governing board elections coming up in July
We appreciate everyone who took part this quarter, travelled to the communities, sat through the recordings, and showed up week after week for Mentor Me!
- Stay Connected
- Meta-Wiki: https://w.wiki/CKWi
- Telegram: https://t.me/tyaplanguagewiki
- Email: tyapwikimedia@gmail.com
Thank you for being part of our journey; together, we are preserving knowledge and telling our stories to the world!
Upcoming community meeting: 04th July 2026 – Meeting page | Meeting Registration