It is saddening that we are losing our culture and it's values faster than we think. Children and modern day youths do not know their roots (villages), they cannot speak their languages, they cannot and are not interested in dressing in cultural atire and I can go on and on.
Some parents are not willing to teach their children their native language because they are afraid that the language will polute their sense of English. Funny enough, children who understand and speak their language, speak better English.
I am ever grateful to my parents that the first language I spoke was Esan language (one of the numerous edo languages) even though I was born and brought up in Delta State. This availed me the opportunity of been a multilinguist.
I speak and write Esan and Urhobo. I speak Ibo, a little Yoruba, Igala, Hausa, greetings in Hebrew, a little of French and few others I might not remember. The languages in my memory are so much that at times I mix them up when I want to speak them especially the ones I do not speak frequently. My joy is that it doesn't take me much pain to learn a language I really am interested in.
my niece, my daughter and I on our way to their school for cultural day
Causes of culture loss
Inter-marriage.
Lack of parental presence i.e parents aren't around for one reason or the other, to teach their children.
Loss of cultural values
Unwillingness of parents to imbibe cultural knowledge and values into their children
Colonization and embrace of western culture, throwing our culture away and feeling inferior about it.
Removal of history from our educational curriculum when it should be a compulsory subject to be learnt.
Suggestions on how to revive our culture
We need to be proud of our culture
Bring back history into our curriculum as this is one of the mediums through which our children can learn our culture.
Teach our children to value our cultural attire and stop feeling inferior in it.
Taking the celebration of cultural day in our schools serious as this exposes our children to their cultures.
Teaching our children our language, no matter how big they have become or how seemingly difficult the language is.
Taking our children to their roots, no matter how dangerous this seems to us. You do not need to inform them in the village that you are coming. Moreso you can come and go the same day. Do not think that distance is a barrier if they want to harm you.
Stop feeding children with negative information about their village.
Do not throw away telling of stories.
Social media, watching of television, hectic jobs and lots of modern things have made it almost impossible for parents to sit and discuss with their families. They do not have time to tell their children certain things they should know especially their family roots.
Children go out, see their relatives and do not know them because their parents enstranged them from associating with them.
This aforementioned should change.
In my husband's cultural atire, proudly igala
my niece and my daughter
My daughter's friend in her cultural atire, proudly Ibo
