SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 19, 2012, PAGE 31 chimeena@yahoo.com
Uwuigiaren, impacting morals to children with books BY JAPHET ALAKAM LITERATURE LITERA TURE
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OR Delta State born Omoruyi Uwuigiaren the need to pro vide educational and instructional material for children is a task that must be achieved. The writer, poet, publisher who ventured into writing as a result of a vision from God is one of those who believes in the biblical saying “train up a child in the way of the lord and when he grows he will not depart from it.” According to Omuruiyi who is graduate of Mass Communication from Lagos State Poly , the level of infestation by foreign cultures and the way parents leave their children to the care of teachers and maids calls for a concerted action to address the anomaly. So in order to satisfy the yearning of parents who complain about the non availability of good quality books written by Nigerian authors he obeyed the voice and started writing children novels, and ever since then there has been no cause to regret. “A man of God called me one day in 1988 and told me that God wants me to write books for children and after that I started writing for children. I published my first book, Empire of the wicked in2004 and followed by Little Okon and other stories in the same year and till date I have 11 published books.” The books are in many series, the adventure series, the reading for fun
series, Drama series and survival series. Two of the books, The Adventures of Nihu and The City Heroes and other stories from the heart of Africa were published outside the country while others were published in Nigeria. They include: Stranger on the Farm; The Country Boy; Taiwo Da Silva; Giant in a Hut; Dalmos Returns Home; The Little King; Shadows in a River; The Cunning Tortoise; The Stone City; The Jungle Ants and others. The range of books with beautifully illustrated pictures could be described as a perfect introduction for
young readers to learn about the beautiful country of Nigeria, and see how easy and how fun it is to learn about a new culture in the heart of Africa. He went on to point out the special features of the books which are, they are suitable for middle grade readers, the stories within the collection contain messages and themes about forgiveness, charity, redemption and loyalty all from a decidedly African perspective. The young man who once tried his trade as a freelancer in Vanguard as
a cartoonist for years and presently work with a publishing firm, Learn Rite Publishers, Surulere, Lagos disclosed that he decided to go into the writing of children books because of the vision the man of God gave him. “I started writing after the message from the man of God but beside what the man of God told me, I also had personal revelation to that effect.” But the major reason is that “as a result of my upbringing, I intend to impact morals to the children. I realised that we are losing touch of our core values, and if we continue that way, in the nearest future our culture will be out of existence. So I use the books as a platform to change the psyche of the children. It serves as an educational and instructional materials for the children.” He added How did he fit into the system easily, “ writing is a gift to me because I am a natural story teller. Moreover writing flows in my family, my father was a writer and my uncle too. But because of the calling and what I intend to achieve, I embarked on a lot of research so that I will know how to meet the requirements of the children and send the message across to them. And God been on my side I was able to start. I started writing before I even went to the Polytechnic to study Mass Communication.” He added. Uwuigiaren who is also a preacher did not just make it without challenges but he said that “though they are numerous, but because the job is a calling, I don’t look at them.” Some of the challenges include: publishers rejecting your manuscript thereby discouraging the writer, the system in the country that does not encourage creativity, so you need to encourage yourself to keep going, the environment that is not conducive and others. However, he pointed out that the secret of his success so far has been dedication and been focused coupled with his desire to be a blessing to the children.
'Peaceful world my sincerest wish' Continued from page 30 it now and especially reconfigure the personality and reflections of the main characters such as Okonkwo? Every thinking person, if you consider yourself a serious intellectual grows…Intellectual evolution and growth does not mean, however, that all of a sudden horrendous things in our shared history appear less appalling. It means that greater knowledge and understanding help place the best and worst of events in clearer perspective. The legacy of colonialism is not a simple one but one of great complexity,
with contradictions- good things as well as bad. We do not have enough time to outline every aspect of the colonial and post-colonial condition…So, one cannot talk about making changes or edits to a book that was written to speak to a condition that existed and continues to exist in different forms and different guises. In many ways, the world is a much different place today than it was in 1958 when Things Fall Apart was published. Some may say a better place – women’s rights are improving around the world, race relations perhaps can be said to have improved as well. In other ways, many things can also be
Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe with former South African President Nelson Mandela at a Steve Biko memorial ceremony in Cape Town in 2002. AFP photo. C M Y K
said to have either remained the same or become worse. So the struggle to make the world a better place must continue! Your books and novels are considered to be the representative of modern African literature. In your view, what are the most prominent features and attributes of the modern African
literature? Yes, well…remember that there was an entire movement, a whole group of us…In There was a country,I discuss this in greater depth. Things Fall Apart, I believe, now has a life of its own. I think it is now more famous than I am! (Laughter). The fifty plus translations are a big indication of its impact. I feel like a parent watching a child succeed from the sidelines. The other books have also been successful. It feels good. I am very grateful. What was the second part of the question? What are the most prominent features and attributes of the modern African literature? Yes…I have stated elsewhere that one cannot cram African literature into a small, neat definition. I do not see African literature as one unit but as a group of associated units – in fact the sum total of all the national and ethnic literatures of Africa. National literature in my definition is written in national languages and has a potential audience through out the countries that speak that language. Ethnic literature, by contrast is available to a particular ethnic group within
that country or sub-region. I have often been asked why I choose to write in English rather than in my native language.That is a flawed question and a false choice, because most of us think and write in and speak both our ethnic language and the national languages we were taught in school. Context is very important…Those that ask this question fail to understand my goal and the goal of several other pioneers of modern African writing. When I picked up the pen to make writing a career, African literature did not exist as it does today…the numbers were not there. One of the consequences of colonialism was the loss of the many traditions of Africa. Many of us engaged Africa’s past, stepping back into what can be referred to as the “era of purity” before the coming of Europe. What we discovered we put in books and that became known widely as “African Culture.” Some of us would decide to use the colonizer ’s tools: his language, altered sufficiently to bear the weight of an African creative aesthetic, infused with elements of the African literary tradition. I borrowed proverbs from our culture and history, colloquialisms and African expressive language from the ancient griots, the world views, perspectives,
and customs from my Igbo tradition and cosmology, and the sensibilities of everyday people.
To be continued
Culled from Veterans Today, Military and Foreign Affairs Journal.