Birthplace of Yorubaland

I left Ibadan at about 6am with Uncle Seun to go to Ile-Ife which according to Yoruba creation mythology is the place where Olodumare, or God, sent down Oduduwa to create the earth, which was orignally just sand that a chicken spread out all around the world, and Obatala, the creation divinity, began making people here and became the patron Orisha, or god, of the town. I'm going to Ife because it is also the home of Ifa Divination, which as you may already know, is the subject of my research. Needless to say I was a bit tired on the road, but I was surprised at first that it was so well maintained, until about half an hour in when all of the pot-holes reappeared and we had to slow down considerably. Uncle Seun and I talked about how Nigeria is a really blessed country because we don't really have to work hard for much of anything to feed any immediate needs. My father always said that if you planted a pig's ear in the ground in Nigeria, a month later you would find several pigs where you planted it. He's absolutely right, EVERYTHING grows here and because there plenty of sunlight and rain, you don't even have to cultivate it. And just as we were lamenting how great everything was, we noticed that the side of the "highway" we were on was turning into a swamp. When I say swamp, I don't mean the recent rains had flooded the road, I mean there was stagnant water there with pond scum and other plants growing out of it, and a good 100 yard section of the highway was completely submerged in an actualy swamp. So much for everything being so great...

I am staying with Aunty Remi and Uncle Funso Sonaiya, my father's very good friends, in Ife, and as luck would have it they are both professors at Obafemi Awolowo University, arguably the premier institution in the world for the study of Yoruba culture and certainly Ifa Divination. At any rate, we arrive at the university at about 8 am, and the place is absolutely beautiful! The university boasts that it hasa the most beautiful campus in Africa and I think they might be right. They have more acres and acres of land as far as the eye can see covered in beautiful trees and hills, and since it's a sub-saharan African University, it of course has to have buildings that have undergone a bit of neglect, but are still beautiful all the same. It took us maybe 5 minutes to drive from the gate to the Sonaiyas house, which is also on campus thankfully, and after a brief visit, Uncle Seun was off and Aunty Remi gave me a quick tour of campus. She introduced me to several professors that she knows, fortunately for me she teaches French!, and in particular one Professor Ajibade who does a lot of work very similar to my project. The only thing that surprised me more than the beauty of the school, was the fact that they had electricity almost all the time! I had gotten pretty good at hooking up every electronic appliance that I have to the same outlet when power comes, but there's no need here! The Sonaiyas even have a power inverter, so when there's no power, there's still power! I really lucked out.

Aunty Remi took me through the rest of the city, it's much much smaller than I had imagined, on her way to a tailor, and then we went back home because she had to go to a French villiage in Badagry (Eastern Nigeria), and then on to Germany and France. I hope that can once and for all dispell the myth that no Nigerians speak French... I settled my thigns in and talked with Uncle Funso about the rampant greed and corruption in Nigeria, what else..., over dinner and we tried to come up with a good explanation for why it has come about since that's the first step in fixing it. Unfortunately we don't have any real answers, but when we do I'll let you know. For now I'm going to do some more work on my research questions and pass out. I promise to outline my project some more in the next post