Yorubaland
This group is to keep track of shared interests and knowledge related to Yorubaland. I am setting it up so people know that some of our roots are in South West Nigeria, and that all things related to Yoruba culture are of interest to the Dadamac Community.
Introductions
These are three people connected with Dadamac and Yorubaland, who have recently been introduced to each other:
"Sir Lawie"
"Sir Lawie" (real name Olalekan Lawal) and I have just got back in contact after a gap of several years. He is a Yoruba man, living in London, and an enthusiast for sharing Yoruba culture ("Sir Lawie" is a nick-name from school that he has never lost). We first connected severasl years ago when I was about to return to SW Nigeria, and wanted to revise some simple spoken greetings. He helped me out with the information I needed, all online: not just written information, but sound files as well. This time it was my turn to try and provide some information as, he wanted an update on various rural realities, as he lives in London.
Folabi Sunday
Fola is a determined Dadamac learner who teaches in a rural area. There is no Internet connection close to where he lives and works, so he uses his phone to go online. He is trying to help Pastor David to develop the Information Centre in Ago-Are. Fola is getting advice from Graham Knight and Ricardo. He could be an ideal person to give Sir Lawie the information he needs.
Femi Longe
Femi is founder of Africa Plus Plus and leads the New Ideas for Africa meetings in London. He is going back to Nigeria soon, to work, for about four months. He will be mostly in Lagos. I am hoping that he and Fola will get a chance to meet up.
The ICT "three legged stool"
I think it might be helpful to look at the Yorubaland discussion against the ICT "three legged stool"model of effective ICT for Education and Learning.
The necessary three legs are
Information
"Sir Lawie" was interested in the information that Fola knew.
C - Communication ie the people with some purpose in communicating
Fola was willing to share his local information with Sir Lawie
T - Technology they need
Following the introductions there was some email follow-up. It turned out that "Sir Lawie" hoped to have spoken phone conversations with Fola and this was failing to happen.
The gaps that Dadamac Limited can fill.
I was able to explain to Sir Lawie that spoken phone conversations are difficult for Fola because he teaches in a rural area where there is no telephone network coverage. This means that the times of phone calls have to be carefully pre-arranged. They can involve a motorcycle ride to a location where they can be accepted (with related expense).
If this had been part of a funded Dadamac project (not just a friendly introduction) then we would have done the liaison with Fola, to make sure that the phone conversations could take place.