The Igbo Literacy Project
In the era of so much misinformation and disinformation about the Igbo race, there is no other better time to promote knowledge about Igbo than now. In 2006, UNESCO had predicted that Igbo language would go into extinction by the year 2025, Since then, Igbo people have continued to react and respond to this prediction in different ways, (see Asonye, 2013, UNESCO Prediction of the Igbo Language Death: Facts and Fables).
Beside UNESCO's prediction of Igbo language death, The Igbo as a people have in the recent time, faced an unprecedented amount hate, and unfriendly treatments from neighboring communities and some political elements, all of which are born out of deep rooted in misinformation and disinformation about the Igbo race, especially since the recent Nigeria's general election. This is suspected to have generated a deep sense of identity crisis and identity denial among Igbo indigenes in Nigeria and in Diaspora, especially the young people.
The Igbo Literacy Project seeks to establish a system that teaches every Igbo child and gets them to learn Igbo language and culture and about the Igbo people. The Igbo Literacy Project is set to work with Igbo communities across the world to set up a physical Igbo library, which will be a prototype of the digital (online) library. Documentation of Igbo history, and cultural artifacts (abstract and concrete) is at the center of this project, works with families both home and abroad to set up a language learning system for their newborns from birth to age five.
The Igbo Literacy Project is open to collaborations with relevant nongovernmental and community based organizations, while individual funders and volunteers are highly needed for the actualization of this project. The project will be the largest information hub for Igbo affairs from all aspects of life in the first five years of her operation, as it sets to build a corpus of video, audio and text data of the Igbo life, touching language, culture, history, science and technology. For collaborations and supports, contact us at indigenoushands22@gmail.com. Please stay tuned for more updates.