As at today March 30 2020, there are not less than 723,732 cases of coronavirus globally. Out of this, the world has lost 34,000 to the pandemic and 151,831 people have recovered. Back home, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has confirmed a total of 111 cases of the Covid-19 out of which only 3 has recovered and the nation has already recorded its first death of the virus. While it's only 111 cases at the moment, there is a growing concern that the real statistics of the affected people might be way more than that as the incubation period of the virus is between 1 to 14 days which means that many people who already have it at the moment may not even know! One of the Commissioners for Health in Nigeria has stated few days ago that there may be potentially 39,000 people with the virus in Lagos State alone!
And coming to southwestern Nigerian states, Aside from Lagos, one can safely conclude that other states are not really doing their best to curtail the spread of this virus. And this is self-evident in the way many people still go about their daily business, social and spiritual activities without any regard for social distancing rules. It is even sad that some people here still believe that the whole Covid-19 situation is nothing but a ruse and an attempt by the government to embezzle money. The truth is, Government is not doing much when it comes to awareness and educating the masses about the disease. And many of these people are locals who don't have enough education or digital access to benefit from the various online awareness.
If we are going to stand a chance against the spread of the Coronavirus, then we need to serious work on grassroot education and awareness of the situation at hand. And one way to do this is effective communication of the situation in the language the locals can understand. And that is why ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ embarked on an aggressive campaign in Ibadan to educate and engage the masses on various way they can protect themselves from the virus, and ways they can manage the disease in when they start showing symptoms and how they can finally contact government officials to take up the issue.
The Campaign
The ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ YORÙBÁ CORONAVIRUS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN was inspired and launched as a result of the ongoing global outbreak of Covid-19. As a result of language barrier, we realise that a lot of people in our local communities still don't have access to key information about the virus and how to protect themselves and flatten the curve against further spread. This is why launched this campaign, where we signed up experienced volunteers to help us create content in indigenous language about the virus and also help us create necessary awareness in key physical locations in Ìbàdàn in addition to using the social media platforms.
Objective of the Campaign
To sensitise the local population about Coronavirus in indigenous languages through culturally sensitive contents and approach.
- Location of the Campaign:
The campaign was carried out in Ibadan, Nigeria. Ibadan is the largest city in sub-saharan African. The campaign train covered 9 important communities in Ibadan including Oja Oba, Ojoo, Agbowo, Sango, Dugbe, New Gbagi International Market, Gates and Iwo Road.
- Number of Volunteers:
We registered 65 volunteers from different locations in Ibadan including students, health professionals, linguists, graphics designer and logistics personnel.
- Duration of the Campaign:
The duration of the campaign lasted 2 days. 27th and 28th of March, 2020.
- Language of Campaign:
The language of the campaign was principally Yorùbá and English which are the predominant languages in the region. But our volunteers also used Pidgin English and Hausa to cater for the minorities in the area.
People Reached:
Physically – 10,000+ Social Media – 350,000+
Partners
SkillNG (www.skill.com.ng)
HueNation Media (www.huenation.com.ng)
PETsPoint Recylcing (www.petspointrecycling.com/)
Ignite Africa
Oyo Insight (www.oyoinsight.com/)
Some things we found out
- People are angry the government isn't doing anything. Some refused to talk to us until we told them we are from a non-governmental organization. The rep from their constituency had not said anything despite that "he had ordered for sanitizers that had his name on it" ( when I was leaving, I saw some people singing and mingling with total disregard for social distancing sharing flyers, I have no idea if they shared sanitizers too. They were from the rep as evidenced by the bus they brought)
- People cannot stay at home unless the government provides for them. A lot of people told me their family depends on their daily income to eat and there's no way they would watch them go hungry.
- Someone raised a very interesting comment about the way banks and supermarkets are dealing with the virus. Most of them have sanitizers and handwashing basins but only a few are safe to use. In most of these establishments, the person washing takes soap or sanitizer and turns on the tap by himself (with dirty hands). When he's done, he turns it off by touching the knob which he didn't clean. What's the point? He suggested that someone should be employed just for that purpose of turning the tap on and off and dispensing sanitizers.
- The older people were very receptive. There was one old woman that already had soap and a bowl of water beside her small tray of biscuits and sweets.
- There are so many misconception about the virus. Someone even said you could contract it by staring into an infected person's eyes. Another was the exaggerated deaths. There's also the belief that drinking and rubbing your hands with alcohol kills the virus. Some people are not even aware of the symptoms or prevention, they simply do not care.
- Another issue is religion. Some people believe prayer will make everything go away. A woman said we cannot entirely avoid physical contact and so, handwashing is unnecessary - we should rather just pray.
- Some people know a lot about it and they are sensitizing people in their own little way but most didn't.
Twitter Conversation
@egbeatelewo
About US
ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ Cultural Initiative was founded on the 1st of June, 2017 as a response to the myriads of challenges and threats facing the preservation and survival of the Yorùbá people. Apart from the fact that most people nowadays cannot even read in their indigenous African languages, there is also a greater concern as regards the waning presence of quality literature materials in these languages. And this has no doubt impeded our ability to sufficiently and originally contribute to global discussions and solutions.
As an initiative, ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ is dedicated to the reviving and repositioning of the Yorùbá culture with the mission to:
- - Provide a platform where students and young people can get engaged with the dynamics of the Yorùbá culture through competitions, lectures, dialogues and regular meetups.
- - Provide a platform for the documentation and preservation of Yorùbá ancient knowledge, culture and language in keeping pace with technological advancement.
- - Rekindle people's interest in Yorùbá literature by organising readings, making Yorùbá literature available for purchase and publishing new voices in the Yorùbá Language when practicable.
Since our launch in 2017, ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ has launched the very first online Yoruba literary magazine located at www.atelewo.org. We have also published a Yorùbá Literary anthology with 40 contributors within and outside Nigeria from places like Saudi Arabia, United States and United Kingdom https://www.thecable.ng/forty-writers-unveil-atelewo-anthology-to-preserve-yoruba-culture . The Yorùbá literary anthology that is also available on Okada books - https://okadabooks.com/book/about/atelewo_pelebe/17227- was introduced and foreworded by Prof. Moyọ̀ Òkédìjí (African Art Lecturer at the University of Texas) and Mr. Kọ́lá Tùbọ̀sún (Founder, Yorùbá Name) respectively. We have also launched not less than 5 Yoruba Language basic tutoring paid class in partnership with SkillNG (www.skill.com.ng) where we are able to teach over 100 people how to properly put diacritics on the Yoruba language and also how to read and write. In 2018, we organised the first Yoruba Literary and Cultural Conference in the University of Ibadan where we recorded the attendance of about 150 participants from Brazil, Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun States. We also launched Atelewo Bookshop (business.atelewo.org) where we sell affordable Yoruba Books and also make access to them easier. In 2019, we worked withThe Artivists NG, a comic brand, to render Yorùbá Alphabets in very attractive graphics layout https://www.theartivistsng.com/2019/09/09/26-days-and-more/. We have also worked with Ola-Up Foundation www.ola-up.org to translate the foundation case notes to Yoruba language just as we have also worked with professors in the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan to translate some Yoruba songs into English Language amongst other organisations we have worked with.
In 2019, we launched Jomitoro under ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ Cultural Initiative as a dialogue platform where young people come together to analyse trending issues from the lens of rich Yorùbá traditions and practices. We take advantage of this platform to educate people about history and practices of the Yorùbá people as a way of engaging the younger generation about their cultural heritage. And lastly, we engage in language activism by actively encouraging people to install language tech tools like the Yorùbá Language Keyboard published by https://yorubaname.com/ and others as a way to make people contribute contents in their indegenous language on the internet. Jomitoro is a monthly physical themed event in Ibadan and so far, we have organised 9 events (while reaching more than 200 participants) so far with the 8th edition themed after Àmọ̀tẹ́kùn and Security Issues in Southwestern Nigeria.
Donation
You can send your donations to:
ATELEWO CULTURE AND LANGUAGE SERVICES
UBA - 1021878832
Contact
www.atelewo.org
Social Media
Facebook/Instagram/ Twitter : @egbeatelewo
Phone Number: 2347061282516