People from many parts of Africa have been coming to America for quite some time for leisure, business, and education. Through many of those years, cultural identity was not an issue because the African communities were transitory. Many people did not even come with their families. Many Africans did not want to live far away from home for long. This mind-set is reflected in a Yoruba proverb that says, "Ajo ko le dundun, ki onile ma re'le," "No matter how pleasant and enjoyable your sojourn abroad has been, you must return home."
But in the last couple of decades, more and more Yoruba people have been migrating permanently to the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. In response to grave economic and political conditions in many African countries, they have been making their homes and raising their families in America. The feeling these days is expressed in this Yoruba saying that contrasts sharply to the earlier one: "Ibi ti aiye ba ba'ni, ni a ti nje," "Home is wherever you find life in abundance.The Yorubas settling outside their home country have had to deal with a sense of cultural dislocation, as a result of being immersed in a varied and very different cultural enviroment. In response, Yoruba people express a common sentiment for passing on their culture to their children, for the sake of individual and group identity and for posterity. Obvious in all these efforts is that Yoruba people are striving to provide their younger generation with cultural roots that will hold them firmly, help them grow, and give them a sense of identity, which many believe has helped them cope with the difficult transition to life in America and other parts of the world.
Yoruba people believe in strong family and cultural ties. This belief provides the hope and the expectation of returning home. Yoruba people want their children or foreign spouse to be able to fit into their Yoruba community when they return home. With this in mind, Yoruba people have a burning desire to pass on their language & rich culture to their kids and/or foreign spouse. They love to teach them the etiquette of respect for elders, eating in public, greetings, mannerism and dress code. This is their dream.
A person's language constitute a big part of their identity.
Language is a tool of communication, and not segmentation
If you have no language, you have no culture,
"Preserving Your Heritage Language is the key to preserving your next generation, giving your child a true sense of identity and a high level of self esteem." -- Soji Oyenuga, 2006
We as Yoruba people believe that by teaching our children our culture we will one day go back to our fatherland triumphantly. Yoruba parents abroad are very busy and industrious people. They continually faces the challenges of creating the time and knowing the technique to help teach their kids to understand, speak, read and appreciate Yoruba language and culture. What Yoruba parents in diaspora desperately need to salvage their next generation from being "lost" in a hurry is a unique interactive and entertaining multimedia that will systematically take their kids from zero interest level in Yoruba language and culture to a comfortable level of speaking and appreciation of Yoruba language and culture in less than 30days.
