Continuing the work of Peter Adetunji Oyawale - evidence of a decade of ICT4D in rural Nigeria. June 11, 2012
Thank you Fola and Pastor David for all your efforts in recording and sharing this video clip - in memory of Peter Adetunji Oyawale - http://www.dadamac.net/network/peter-adetunji-oyawale
I understand you have recorded more, but we have yet to work out the best, and most affordable, way for you to share it with me here in the UK. I know some of the problems you have had, since we first thought of this idea last year, and I thank you for your persistence.
Peter's father's house, and his last resting place
It is fitting that you have chosen to show the house that Peter was building for his father to live in. It was one of his dearest ambitions to build that house. I have a video recording that Peter made while he was working on the house. It was shortly before he was killed. Of course his other ambition was to bring the benefits of computers and the Internet to Ago-Are and elsewhere in Oke-Ogun, which was the vision that brought us together.
Please confirm that the final shot is in fact what I think. I think it is Peter's grave, which is in the grounds of that house he built for his father.
Memories
I remember standing by Peter's grave back in February 2001, and how we threw flower petals in. On a later visit to Ago-Are, when I had got to know Peter's Uncle Timothy well, he told me that we had been standing close to each other by the grave-side, but at the time I did not realise who he was. Mr Timothy planted a tree in memory of Peter, and he showed it to me some years ago. I was amazed at how tall it had grown.
I remember how incredibly hot it was by the graveside. I also remember the crowds of people as the funeral procession came into Ago-Are, and how the coffin was taken to the Town Hall before the service in the church. I remember how Mr Adetola (he was not a chief then) started to take me to the Town Hall, but decided that there were just too many people and so I had better go directly to the church. There he handed me over into the care of Chief Adejumo who. as time went by, became my "cultural mentor" and dear friend. (Thank you for the recent photo of you and Chief Adejumo - ). I had no idea then how Chief Adetola, Chief Adejumo, Mr Timothy, Chief Mojoyinola and I would come together over the following months and years to try to continue Peter's work, nor of course did I have any idea how David Mutua, Pastor David, and then you, would take things forward in the wonderful ways that you have done.
I have other video recordings at home, including one of the funeral. It was given to me straight afterwards. I don't remember who arranged it. I hope I was able to thank the right person. I was able to share it with Peter's widow, my friend, Agnita.
The continuation of Peter's work
It is wonderful, all thee years later. to reflect on how you, and others, have carried forward Peter's vision for bringing the benefits of ICT to Ago-Are. Peter's vision was for "Community Digital Information Centres" and I think the work you are doing through your "Dadamac outpost" and your work in schools captures the spirit of that vision so well. I think it would particularly please Peter to see you are doing a mixture of theory and practice. You are bringing theoretical knowledge about computers to the schools and to the wider community. You are also showing people the practical value of computers and the Internet. Against all the odds, and from your own resources, you are helping the community to share in those benefits through the services you are providing, and the way that you teach people about those services, and how you introduce things that are really relevant to people's needs.
I have seen many projects about computers and the Internet in Africa over the years since I first got involved with Peter's work. Ours in Ago-Are has been small in comparison with most of them, but it is truly rooted in the community. I think, when we look at what we have achieved together, and the challenges we have faced and overcome we can hold our heads high.
Working and learning together
It seems particularly wonderful to me that you are still taking the trouble to stay in contact with me, and that we have been able to work and learn together for so long. I appreciate the way that together we have continued using and developing the communication channel between UK and Ago-Are. I think how Peter Oyawale and Chief Adetola started to set it up all those years ago, when Peter was living in the UK. Mobile phones had not arrived then, and Chief Adetola, in Ibadan, had the only personal telephone owned by anyone connected with the project in Nigeria. Once we left Ibadan for Ago-Are there was no Internet and there were no phones. It was a very different world.
I believe that the lessons we have been learning, since Peter returned to Nigeria in 2000, have relevance beyond our own immediate circle and I hope over the next decade we may have opportunities to share those lessons with others.
Greetings, appreciation and hopes for the future
Please greet all my friends connected with the work. My heart is very full as I look at this precious video and think of all it represents, and all we have done in Ago-Are (and elsewhere) over the years since some of us first tried to gather up the fragments of Peter's work.
Your work (and the work of all those who have helped along the way) is an inspiration and I hope it will continue and flourish. I hope we will continue to learn lessons together and find ways to make it easier for you as time goes by. I hope that we will also find ways for others to learn from the Ago-Are example. I hope too we will see the unfolding of shared wisdom as we use the internet to help people in different communities to rub minds.
Your video clip up on flickr all the way from Ago-Are is an amazing testimony to the strength and continuing power of Peter's vision of digital inclusion in rural areas. Your persistence and your success in sharing this clip - despite huge difficulties - is typical of the dedication and determination of all who have come together over the years to make sure that Peter's vision did not die with him.
Thank you for all you are doing. Well done. Congratulations on all you have achieved.
I look forward to the continuation of our work together.
Pam