Igbo Union Project Proposal submitted by Anthony-Claret Onwutalobi

IGBO UNION FINLAND RY

PROJECT PROPOSAL 

Author: Anthony-Claret Onwutalobi

Preamble

Our efforts to promote our cultural values, teach our children our culture and language, and perform our cultural festival to enrich the cultural mosaic of the Igbo people, combat racism, and build solidarity with our host country have been hampered by the absence of a permanent cultural centre. Therefore, we are seeking funding to secure a permanent location where we can better plan and execute our association’s goals, as well as organize arts, cultural events, music, and theater performances to successfully transfer our cultural values to our youth and aid in combating racism and discrimination through arts and cultural workshops.

Who are we?

Igbo Union Finland Ry is an umbrella organization of people of Igbo extraction and their families living in Finland. The organization was founded and duly registered with the Patent and Registration Office in 1998.

Membership in our organization is open to all adult Igbo people, their spouses, and children of 18 years and above.

The primary aims of the organization as enshrined in our constitution include

• To assist and unite all people of Igbo extraction living in Finland.
• To promote and inform members, associates, affiliates, and friends of the typical activities and cultures of the Igbo heritage.
• To answer questions of newcomers of Igbo heritage on the rules and regulations of our host country in a way to possibly help them stay in harmony with the law of the land and integrate better with Finnish society.

The Igbo ethnic nationality of Nigeria is made up of Igbo-speaking people in different parts of Nigeria, mostly in the Southeast and the Delta regions. They were the people of the defunct Biafra nation that suffered untold hardship during the Nigerian civil war.

We are aware of the efforts by Finns, both individuals and organizations, towards alleviating the sufferings of the Igbo people during the Nigerian civil war. It should be recalled that the building of Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church) coincided with the time the Igbos suffered untold hardship in their struggle for the Biafra nation-state, leading to the inscription of the word BIAFRA on top of the rocks. We are also aware of the donations made by individuals and organizations from Finland. Biafra even adapted the music of Jean Sibelius’s composition, Finlandia, for its national anthem.

With a reasonable population of Igbo people permanently living in Finland today, we intend to make a visible positive impact on Finnish society by empowering our community, especially children and youths, through Igbo language and cultural activities. It is a known fact that such empowerment builds confidence, which in effect makes the youths better armed to become much better and more productive members of the Finnish society.

List of projects requesting funds for:

Project 1: Teaching Igbo Language & Culture

Over the years, the population of Finns of Igbo extraction has grown, and this has necessitated the need to strengthen the younger people by teaching them the Igbo language and culture. Also, some Igbo people of Finland have Finnish spouses, and they also need to learn more about the origins of their husbands and also learn to understand some Igbo languages, as this will help to reduce cultural conflicts in their family life.

Igbo language teaching and cultural activities therefore will be a major component of this project.

What we need to achieve in Project 1

To achieve project 1, we need to rent a permanent centre where we will be able to teach our kids our language, practice Igbo dance and theatre rehearsals, and also train workshops on Igbo arts and culture and conduct seminars on Igbo ways of life. The following items are part of the items’ cost that we request funding for.

Project 2: Promotion of Igbo Cultural activities

From a broader perspective, the Igbo community will be actively involved in the cultural activities in Finland by contributing through the arts – music, literal arts, performing arts, theatre and dance, and exhibition arts. The community will feature different aspects of the Igbo way of life in festivals and other artistic outlets such as the Maailma kylässä-festival (World Village Festival) etc.

What we need to achieve in Project 2

We will need to acquire Igbo cultural artefacts for exhibition in our permanent centre to promote our arts. We will also organise cultural music festivals and perform at the Maailma kylässä-festival (World Village Festival) to showcase our culture to the Finnish populace

Project 3: New Yam Festival

The annual Igbo New Yam Festival offers ample opportunity for the showcasing of Igbo culture in Finland. As part of this project, the festival will run a one-week programme that will culminate in the festival proper. The week will feature seminars, cultural workshops, Igbo arts and crafts exhibitions, Igbo movie screenings, and Igbo cultural dance performances. The climax of the event will be the festival proper, which will showcase the kola-nut rites, whereby we call on “Chukwuabiama” (Most High God) together with our great-grandfathers to bless the kola nut before eating it. There are also different cultural dancing performances and the actual rites of cutting the new yam harvest to pronounce the commencement of the eating of the new yam.

What we need to achieve in Project 3

Project Timeline

Project Estimated Budget for 2016/2017 Organisation activities

Appendix