Drawing from a sociocultural perspective of literacy, with the goal to promote the use of African Native Languages (ANL) in schools, I conducted a Participatory Action Research in one multilingual primary school community in North West Tanzania. For three weeks, 19 teachers, 19 parents and 119 6th grade students collaborated with each other in a writing workshop to write supplemental books for their school library. Through the findings I show that students wavered to use their native languages. Students preferred their national identity over others while local, national, and international literacy issues conflicted students' language choice for their texts. The study demonstrates how in multilingual nations, language issues in schools cannot be detached from other social concerns. While seeking ways to acknowledge students' diverse linguistic and cultural identities, educators are encouraged to consider students' literacy as well as language ideology based on historical, economic and social contexts.