Binogun Winifred, that name most likely doesn't sound Yoruba to most people. 90 % of the time, people assume I'm either Igbo or someone from the South and my accent really doesn't help matters. My Yoruba is on a C6 grade and to crown it, I don't look Yoruba. This does not mean that I'm not proud of my tribe even though some people have made that accusation a number of times. Truth is, I'm Ilaje, not home but away.
I got this description from a distant family member who asked me that question when we first met. She went "Ki wo je? Ilaje home or away?" I didn't want to risk saying home because to begin with, I can't even properly articulate all the phonemes in the language. Over the years, I've come to realize that one cannot stay away from home for long. No matter how far we go, we return to the starting point because it is an inexpugnable part of identity.
In order to be a good Ilaje Away, I decided to learn my oriki. Trust me, nothing is as difficult as this.
"Oma Asisa
A fi origho alade mo mi
Asan maa gbe!
A dogho n'egodo
Wun Obinren tu......"
Okay, I have to stop here because I am exhausted with the spellings. However, I must say that I am enjoying every bit of this re-education. To me, finding my identity (not in a price of paper with a passport) is extremely important to my career. Whenever I read something about my my favorite poet Niyi Osundare, I always see sprinkles of his cultural identity in his work and to me, that is what does it for me, it's what makes his poetry appeal to my soul. No, I have no intention of writing anything in my language but I do intend to improve the richness of my writing by including certain cultural features.
You may be Igbo, Igala, Efik, Nupe or from some other tribe but you grew up in Lagos and didn't have the opportunity to learn the language well. Yes I know, we have passed that age when our Linguistic Acquisition Device (LAD) functions at its best but then, we can still try. The elders are dying everyday and they are dying with vital information that we do not have, let's try and tap into some of that before we go too. Plus, I've realized that even though a language doesn't have an orthography, one can still find useful information on Google(she has everything, she must be a woman and not a man). So, try and become a 'home' child dear friends, don't be like me.
With love,
Winifred, the Ilaje Away trying to come back home.
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