Recently, Michael Kehinde Abiodun interviewed The President of the Yoruba Community Association in Toronto, Canada; Chief (Mrs.) Omisola Olubunmi, Please read the excerpts.
OASES NEWS: People are curious to know when this year’s Picnic is coming up and why the Picnic always take different patterns year to year
Olubunmi: This year’s Picnic is coming up on August 13, 2016. The Picnic has always enjoyed broad support from Africans and non-Africans and is always certainly a very successful one every year because we always renew and refresh our activities every year. We generally have more hits than misses. Since internal evaluation is an integral part of executing the Picnic, this year’s Picnic will undoubtedly be more fantastic than the previous ones.
Michael Kehinde Abiodun: Interviewer
OASES NEWS: What is the rationale behind this yearly Yoruba Picnic?
Olubunmi: It is necessary that we share our understanding with each other. We have to note that we find ourselves in a part of the world where individualism and independence are valued, where most of the immigrants experience loneliness and disconnection, hence our coming together at the picnic is aimed to ensure more sense of interconnectedness, interdependence, rebuild relationship with associations and to build supportive social networks for ourselves with the central idea of sharing common struggles. Family members will have the opportunity to meet each other, sons and daughters may eventually know themselves and fall in love which may eventually lead to marriage, so the picnic should be seen as a gravitational pull for inter-relationship and interdependency among the Yoruba associations, friends and well-wishers. At the picnic, our children will be able to witness the pragmatism of domesticity skills and cultural etiquettes of the Yorubas,
OASES NEWS: Please tell us about the Yoruba Language Class that you revived
Yoruba is one of the Nigerian languages approved by Toronto District School Board, we are all happy . There are vast resources to help the classes. The program died about 20 years ago and now we are starting on a brand slate and gradually we are progressing.
The International Languages – Elementary /African Heritage Summer Program this year is starting July 04- July 29, 2016. Registration has commenced and we hope to get up to 100 students. Kindergarten to Grade 8 students/Adult classes are available.
Officially, the Nigerian acceptable languages taught in Nigerian schools are the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa named after these major ethnic groups. Children born in diaspora are not aware or well informed of their backgrounds while their parents can speak these impeccable languages the children don’t understand them. Sometimes as African you would like to caution or give your children instruction in public in your own language but no way because your child does not speak, write, understand your local language and can’t comprehend it, so you are forced to speak in English to them. Majority of our children are now experiencing what is called Heterogeneous marriage because of the language problem and we encourage homogenous marriage because of our culture which we are interested to retain.
OASESNEWS: Why are you clamoring to have Yoruba Heritage Centre and What is the Purpose of this?
Olubunmi: We are launching Fund raising for Yoruba Cultural Heritage Centre next month July 2, 2016. Yoruba Heritage Centre is important for many reasons. Its preservation provides a vital link with the past and a foundation for planning for the future. It contributes to the identity, character, vitality and quality of life of the Yoruba Community as a whole. Yoruba is ripe for its own Heritage Centre. We want our leaders to come out en-masse to support this laudable project. Yoruba is rich in culture. We need it.
Visit the YCA website – www.yorubasincanada.org.
OASES NEWS: Thank you for taking your time to attend to us.
President: Thank you.
