During the summer period of the year 2013, I had the opportunity to participate in an eight-week intensive Yoruba language course that took place on the campus of one of Nigeria’s most historical institutions, the University of Ibadan. This program was directed by the University of Florida and funded by the United States Department of Education. The program’s objectives were to increase each student’s proficiency in Yoruba by placing them strategically in environments of which English was of no use. The course was designed not only to teach us about Yoruba language, but also Yoruba culture. This demanded something that I did not quite expect. Being a Nigerian-American I had always thought Yoruba culture was rampant in my family. What I did not realize is that though I had always integrated elements of my culture to determine how I interpret my experiences, my thought processes had been in English my entire life. This program invoked a rearrangement of the psyche, brought by the fact that we were discouraged from speaking and thinking in English. This was no easy task, especially for those who had been raised in American culture their entire lives.

In order to be eligible for the program, each student had to have completed at least two semesters of an elementary Yoruba language course. Seeing that I had met these requirements by the grace of the Mellon Foundation’s Joint Language Program between Yale, Columbia and Cornell University, I walked into this program confident with my Yoruba skills. However I did not realize that all of the program’s participants would have varying proficiencies in Yoruba. Some had been studying for 2-3 years but were not as proficient. Others were strong in Yoruba listening but not as strong in speaking. One had spent a year in Nigeria previously under similar non-English constraints, and another had been teaching herself by watching Yoruba films for the past 4 years, therefore these two were the most advanced. What intimidated me at first ended up being a blessing in retrospect because just as our instructors could assist us inside of class, so could my classmates outside.

Though the program itself had a rigorous and thoroughly planned schedule, there was an element of grace that left room for independent experiences should anyone choose to create them for him or herself. Classes were held Monday through Thursday every morning from 9am to 3:30pm with a one-hour break for lunch around 1pm and 15 minute breaks in between classes. Morning session had two classes from 9am-11am and 11:15am-1pm, and afternoon session resumed after lunch at 2:15-3:15. Every day after class, we met with our language partners, post-graduate linguistics students of the University who assisted us with our assignments and/or projects. They were also permitted to follow us outside on any errands or sites we wished to visit as long as Yoruba language would be used. They met with us Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30pm, meaning we were instructed in classroom environment for at least seven hours every day, four times a week. Fridays were either reserved for off campus programs or for guest lectures. Our off-campus excursions allowed us to interact with local Yoruba speakers. These trips included bargaining for goods at Oja-Oje and Gbagi market, taking a tour of Splash FM Radio, and observing infant care and health education for new mothers at Jaja Clinic (on campus). We received guest lectures on spiritual security, Archeology, and Indigenous Knowledge and the “Library” by various professors and affiliates of the University. These Fridays were followed by pre-trip briefings for the upcoming Saturday. Saturdays were my favorite day of the week, because they involved long distance trips to different states in Nigeria. We visited Olumirin Waterfall, Ile-Ife and Osogbo to see the Osun Grove and the Nike Art Gallery, Abeokuta to see Olumo Rock, Ikogosi Warm Spring, and Idanre Hill. These were opportunities to understand the history behind different towns of Yorubaland, while engaging in hiking and other forms of physical adventure. For every off campus trip, we were accompanied by a handful of our teachers and/or language partners, who helped us to best-interpret our outings and who also ensured our safety. Finally, we had Sunday’s free for ourselves to either rest, attend church service with our host families, to visit family members living in Nigeria, etc.

By the third week of the program, we began to work on our seminars of which we could choose any topic that interests us as long as our 45-minute lecture was held strictly in Yoruba. Our seminars were extremely diverse ranging from topics related to our personal studies, to campus prostitution or the foster care system in Nigeria. Some of these seminars were even televised on a local station in Lagos, and they all prompted friends, families and professors to attend. I wished to present a seminar related to my research project in order to engage with my topic early, so I spoke about the state of mental health in Nigeria and our belief systems when it comes to those with brain or mental disease. Our final research papers had to be a minimum of 10-pages written completely in Yoruba, so I did not want to hesitate on the opportunity to start brainstorming. At first the task seemed daunting, but with the help of our teachers, professors and language partners, it was completely manageable. I am very thankful for the project considering the fact that my research paper actually helped me to identify where I want to take my future career. My paper, “Restorative Justice to Healing Body and Mind: A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Treatment of Brain and Mental Ailments in Nigeria,” is a study of the implications for child development in Nigeria considering social attitudes and perspectives towards those suffering from mental illness. It is a blessing that through this project, I have focused my interests and decided to pursue health education as an area of my post-graduate studies.

When it comes to my classroom experience, I was extremely pleased with how our relationships with our instructors grew week by week. From day one with them, I felt welcomed and even loved by new faces. Our instructors did everything they could to teach us Yoruba language and culture and interacted with us with a level of proximity that I have never experienced schooling in the states. They quickly became our close friends while at the same time maintaining a level of seriousness that ensured our success in the program. They pushed us tremendously to speak, read, write, and hear Yoruba language every day and when these tasks became difficult they were constantly supportive. Learning a language and being completely entrenched in it each day at home, in school, and in a majority of your interactions can get extremely frustrating (at least it was for me), but there was never a time that I couldn’t reach out to one of our instructors with the trust that they would ease some of the stresses. I am so thankful to have met such dedicated and loving teachers through this program.

With classes ending around 4:30pm each day, we were guaranteed a certain level of freedom with respect to how we used the rest of our time each day. I made it imperative for me to interact with students on campus, and I did this by creating a street style blog in the midst of my obsession with Nigerian fashion. This was a fun way to meet new people on campus. Whenever I wasn’t taking pictures, myself and others from the program would stroll around campus, buying food here and there and enjoying each other’s company until we established a local group of friends. After the first week some of us from the program became acquainted with members of the basketball team through a host sister, and this allowed us to engage with students on campus more intimately. As a group we made our own fun by playing sports after class like basketball or football, going out to the cinema house, or sitting in campus gardens to gist about life back home and our experiences in Nigeria. We would even engage the entire class including our language partners and teachers to join us in our after-school activities. Though I’ve always thought there was something powerful between relationships in Nigeria because of our cultural values, never did I imagine that these eight-week friendships would become so inseparable. This trip more than confirmed these feelings especially due to the level of genuine love that I developed for new friends, host family members, and instructors.

After each day of class and after school activities, I would typically arrive home by 730pm or 8pm. Each student in the program is assigned to a separate host family that lives on campus, however we had a special case this year that resulted in me being placed in the same home as another program participant. Though it was not initially planned to be this way I am extremely thankful for the company of my program sister (Bunmi) for the eight weeks. We were placed in the home of Professor Adekola, a lecturer in the Institute of African Studies at UI. My host mother, Mrs. Adekola, holds a market in her home, which welcomes people around our neighborhood each day. We lived in a flat (apartment-style) with 5 other families in our building. All of their children were grown and living out of the house however their home very much resembled a communal space for the children living in our compound to enter and interact. All of the neighborhood kids convene in their home throughout the day, a concept which quickly refreshed my memories of how welcome a family home can be in Nigeria. It was pleasant to see my host mom interact with the kids, who help her around the house and occasionally rush in to catch whatever is on TV. Initially I was overwhelmed by how much Yoruba was being spoken at home and how little I could understand and consequently offer in return, but this discomfort settled after some time. Bunmi has grown up around Yoruba and can hear perfectly, so she was such a blessing to have around. I appreciate the fact that our host family really opened their hearts and provided for us during our stay. I learned a lot from them, engaged them when I had questions with our assignments or just wanted to learn more about Yoruba culture. I was also lucky that my host father’s area of research overlapped with my research interests. He even gave me some of his papers to read, which I ended up referencing in my final project.

As you can see our Yoruba instruction did not begin in the classroom, it really started from the moment we entered Nigeria. Throughout my eight-weeks, there were never any barriers or roadblocks to how much we could learn and grow unless we subconsciously placed them within ourselves. All that mattered was how willing we were to use the language and how much patience we could exercise as we progressed. Based on pre-program assessments, I began the program at an Intermediate Low level and thankfully excelled to Advanced Low according to my instructor’s rankings. Apart from any official examinations, I can confidently say I learned so much about Yoruba language and culture and adopted new perspectives in life on a scale that is unable to be physically assessed. This experience was life changing to say the least and I must give thanks to the Leitner Family Fellowship for affording me the opportunity and making my journey financially possible. I must also give thanks to my Yoruba Professor at Cornell University, Ojogbon Ademoyo for consistently supporting me in class and encouraging me to pursue my Yoruba instruction