TEDx Talk Unilorin: How I was dragged back to the root.
Ojo Oluwaseun
ojooluwaseunridwan@gmail.com
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On the 13th of August, I was present (as an audience) at the TEDx Talk live at the Perrforming Arts Theatre Hall, in the University of Ilorin. The program was indeed a celebration of Africa as it took us back to the "Root" at its theme reads.
A lot about Africa was displayed at the event and appreciated. I experienced another show of poetry reading, spoken words, storytelling, songs, photography, comedy and so on. To say the truth, it was a mixture of culture, fun, intelligence, networking and all.
It also served as an avenue for me to connect and reconnect with Arts. I also get to meet again my senior colleagues who have now graduated from the faculty of Law. The likes of Muhammed Akinyemi, who is now a lawyer and a journalist, who was the MC for the program, and Abdullah Harroon (Akewshola), who is currently in Law school.
The event was a motivation for someone like me as an Art enthusiast. It reminded me of the purpose of Arts, how our world may lose its track if Art dies. I realized that the origin of Art is from nowhere other than Africa. It showed me how our lifestyle on its own is an Art. Art. Art! Arts is rooted in our hearts.
The team of professionals who spoke at the event reminded me of the importance of story telling. How we should not let outsiders tell our stories. How we should prevent the problem of stereotype by constant telling our stories in a right way, manner, tone and styles. For the power and purpose of proper personal storytelling can never be under estimated.
After listening to all the speakers, their words keep resonating inside my ears and hearts. I was feeling compelling to be telling African stories in whatever way I can for this Africa is full of beautiful interesting stories. We have our tough sides, the part where we are romancing with problems, but then, ours is not the worst.
The theme of the event which is the"Root" symbolizes a lot of things. It reemphasized the important of the saying of my mamma back then in the village that, a river that forget its root (you can also call it fountain or source) is ready to dry. How a branch of a tree that tear away from the main part would live to die. How civilization has become a chain in our neck, like those around the dogs'.
Many of the problems facing the world of today is as a result of our forgetfulness of where we came from, our origin: root. And the solution will be attained when we set our foot on the route and then go back to our root, because that will be like finding a weed and then uproot it.
The event is beautiful. The speeches are brilliant. The message passed was the best. The speakers were not boring. TEDx Talk Unilorin was a blast!
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