Happy Id al-Fitr!

From the rest of us to our fellow members of the muslim faith, we wish you a very happy Eid ul-Fitr, wherever you are and whenever you are celebrating it, today or tomorrow, depending on the sighting of the moon. Emi a se opo re o. Amin. (Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr ,Arabic: ‎عيد الفطر 'Īdu l-Fiṭr). This is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic period of fasting.


Funke Abolade


Social/Publicity Secretary

Thank you, Committee Volunteers!

A great big thank you to all our committee volunteers from the last general meeting at the Fadamiros. Expect great learning experiences from the Education Committee and fun community events  from the Social committee over the next few months. We have only just begun.

7 members volunteered for the Social Committee and include the following great Yodaaites: ( Click on the "Officers" tab above to see pictures to identify us):

1. Olabisi Badewa

2. Folake Sodeke

3. Sesi Ogunbi

4. Rakiya Adediji

5. David Dada

6. Adejoke Ayanwale

7. Funke Abolade, Chair.

Several members volunteered for the Education Committee. They include the following great Yodaaites:

1. Sola Popoola

2. Dr. Oluyinka Adediji

3. Mrs  Taiwo Odeleye

4. Ayodele Babatunde

5. Prof. Sodeke

6. Prof. Lekan Ayanwale

7. Prof. Benson Akingbemi

8. Engr. Latunde-Addey

9. Solomon Yinka Sholanke 



Thanks again, everyone!

Funke Abolade

Social/Publicity Secretary

Focus on the family - Mr and Mrs Ayo Babatunde.

Today I have the great pleasure of introducing another member family.

Our member family this time are the Babatundes of Montgomery, Alabama. Mr Babatunde is originally from Ibadan. They have been settled in the United states for more than 10 years now. Their children include a girl and 3 boys,  with the 1st two at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa and Birmingham campuses respectively. Their oldest daughter is in her final year and graduating shortly. The younger children attend school in the Montgomery area.

Mr and Mrs Babatunde are local entrepreneurs and business owners, running the Tropical food mart on Burbank street in Montgomery, Alabama. Without their valuable service, many of us would be reduced to just eating pizza and spaghetti meatballs. Instead, they keep us in steady supply of yoruba food like plantain for dodo, gari, yam, iyan, saki, ponmo, bokoto etc. Ko ni tan ni be o!

Ready to wear Nigerian clothing including gele is also on sale. African artifacts are available  to decorate your home

In addition, Mr Babatunde runs a tax preparation service in addition to his full time job. 

They are active members of the Nigerian association as well as passionate and proud founding members of our new organization, YODAAI.

Now you know them, stop by and say hello at the store and spend a few minutes getting to know them at the next meeting.

Yi o si dara .

Funke abolade

Social/Publicity Secretary

Another fine YODAAI Meeting

E nle beun o. E si ku idide ana o. Ajose wa o ni baje. Amin.

Was that not another fine meeting we had yesterday? I certainly enjoyed it and can not wait till we meet again for the next one, hopefully in Montgomery, Alabama - we are already hard at work on it. The news letter is on its way for all. And for those who missed the meeting, we missed you too and won't you come join us next time?

Check out some of the fun pictures below. For more pictures,  see the news letter for full details. Click on the news letter tab above on top of the page and select issue #002).

Yi o si da ra.

Funke Abolade, MD

Social/Publicity Secretary.

General Meeting.

This is a reminder to all that our general association meeting will take place tomorrow, 20th of August, 2011. Please note that the time set is 3pm at Dr Henry Fadamiro's residence in Auburn. Pls check your emails for his address and driving directions. Hope to see you all there with your families and even more yoruba speaking friends! As our president would say, Oodua a gbe wa o!

Yi o si daa.

Funke Abolade

Social/Publicity Secretary

Some Yoruba history...

Awa omo ile ka a ro o jire,

When you have some time please click on the links below to see some history and perspective on the history of the Yorubas. It is a fascinating read for us history buffs out there. As I say to myself, you learn something new everyday...

There is also a permanent link to these articles regarding the Yorubas in the language and culture section of our blog.

Yoruba Mythology and Religion

Map of Nigeria/demographics

The 1969 Ghana exodus of Yoruba migrants

Yoruba Speaking Peoples of West Africa

Thanks to Mr Simons Latunde - Addey for the informative links. Ko ni tan ni be o. Ese a dupe.

Funke Abolade
Social/Publicity Secretary

Reminds me of home...

(Part of a display of Yoruba / Nigerian items at Montgomery Academy, Montgomery Alabama. feb /11)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

I've had "home" on my mind lately and I thought I would post this picture as a reminder of some of the things in our homes here in the USA that reminds us of "home" back in Nigeria. 

The Adediji's and my family (Abolades) were active participants in putting that display together for Montgomery Academy students and promoting our home and culture earlier this year. I dare say we forever changed the opinion of those young impressionable kids on what it means to be  a yoruba person from Nigeria / Africa. 

 No doubt everyone of us could look around their homes and find something that has the essence of Nigeria in it, including our very being ourselves. In the end, no matter how far we travel, North, East, South or West, home still is the best!

Send me pictures of anything you'd like me to feature that reminds you of "home"....

Have a wonderful weekend y'all!

Funke Abolade

Social / Publicity secretary

YODAAI AUGUST General Meeting

Mark your calendars and keep the date open!

The next general meeting of our association members (YODAAI) has been scheduled for the 20th of August, 2011 at the home of Dr Fadamiro in the city of Auburn, Alabama. The specific time is to follow. Please check your emails for the address and the directions to his house. Another reminder will be sent closer to the date. Come one, come all and invite other yoruba folks as the more, the merrier!

Yi o si daa.

Funke Abolade, M.D

Social /publicity sec.

Welcome to our association's blog!

Welcome to our inaugural blog post! 

This is where we get to share ideas on our association, check what's on our calendar of events, review meeting minutes if you were'nt able to attend a meeting, check our constitution and a variety of things. Our news letter has also been incorporated into the blog which makes it a one stop shop for everything Yodaai!  Click on the page tabs on top of the page to see the other things we are working on. 

Our official website will follow in the near future, hopefully we can get a professionally designed website going soon but for now, this is the next best thing - and it's free! Enjoy and please tell our fellow yoruba citizens about it and about us. To be able to get this blog post automatically every time there is a new post, please subscribe by email right at the bottom of the blog page where it says "Follow by email". 

If you just want to check in to see on any day what is happening on our blog, just type www.Yodaai.blogspot.com into your browser and it will take you straight there. 

Also please Click on the blue tab on the right side bar where it says "Followers" to follow the blog by goggle friends connect. It allows us to see how many people are following our blog posts.

Please feel free to leave a comment at the end of every post so we can have a vigorous back and forth on whatever the conversation is about. This is the only way this will work, if we all contribute and participate. To comment, go to the "blog archive" bar on the right of the home page and chose which blog post you want to comment on by titles. So for now, only one title is there to comment on, our "inaugural post".  Click on it and the comment box will be at the end of that post. Comment away!

Yi o si dara.

Funke Abolade, M.D

Social / Publicity Secretary.

From the desk of the President

Dr Oluyinka Adediji

Corporate Announcement From the President :

I wish to announce to our dear members of Yoruba Descendants Association of Alabama, Inc (YDAAI) - Egbe Omo Yoruba Ni Alabama, that our association has been incorporated as a legal entity. 

The Articles of Incorporation of YDAAI was incorporated under the laws of the state of Alabama, U.S.A., on the 14th of July 2011 pursuant to the provisions of Alabama Non -Profit Act and having cleared the hurdle of name reservation.

We also obtained the Tax Id number from the IRS for the purpose of opening a checking account. 

Checks for membership fee can be made payable to: Yoruba Descendants Association of Alabama (YDAAI) and mailed to our temporary address at 215 C/o Oluyinka Adediji, 215 Winton M Blount Loop, Suite #9  Montgomery, AL 36117.

The next task is applying to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to  exempt our association  from federal income tax under section 501(a) of the internal revenue code as an organization described in section 501(c)(3). This would be needed in order to allow funding of the organization’s activities and programs through private and corporate donations. 

As you are all aware, our association has no employees. Administrative functions and organizing activities are expected to be performed by the officers and member volunteers. I believe when it comes to organizing, I can count on you all!  “Ajose wa Ko ni baje O” Olorun a gbe egbe ro. Ase. 

Dr Oluyinka  Adediji

President.


Please click on the link below to see the original documents of registration.

Alabama Registration



In other news, Mr Jide Thomas has resigned from his post as assistant general secretary and Dr Badewa has kindly agreed to serve in that capacity. Thank you to both gentlemen.


Our condolences to our Vice President, Mrs Sola Popoola on the loss of her mother. Olorun a mu ojo jin na si ara won o. Amin.

Funke Abolade, M.D