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KUNLE ADEWALE has a friendly mien.
He always wears a smile that would make anyone meeting him for the very first
time to assume he has never experienced the downside of life. His laughter is
infectious and when he speaks, his words could propel you to do those things
you wouldn’t ordinarily want to do. Indeed, there is no dull moment with this
author, poet, art
teacher and
curator of Tender Arts Nigeria.
In 2013, Ayomikun Omoyiola, a
10-year-old girl and one of his protégées, won the Peace Award in Abuja for her
brilliant painting
on the Nigeria’s situation, titled Peace In The Midst Of The Storm. And
recently, another feather was added to his hat. A UK-based organisation not
only recognised his efforts at mentoring children and youth, but also nominated
him for the Global Teachers’ Prize.
In his usual unassuming way,
Adewale attributes this nomination to the Lord.
“The nomination is just the
grace of God. Since 2001, I have been in the classroom teaching and imparting
knowledge to pupils. The classroom has always been my contact with them over
the years. I have always loved teaching. Aside from the classroom teaching, I
also use any opportunity that comes my way to touch lives. People must have
seen what I have been doing, using art to develop the grassroots people and
mentor children to enable them be their best in life and school. This must
have informed the nomination,” he explains.
Is it logical then to
believe that it wasn’t coincidental that Nigeria’s youngest Peace Ambassador,
Ayomikun Omoyiola emerged
through him?
“Yes, I may say. I met
her at Queens of the Stone Ageland Academy, Okota, Lagos, where I teach art.
From her performance in class and with her parents’ consent, I began to groom
and mentor her along with others outside the school. Ayomikun’s works earned her accolades and
laurels. Her artistic rendition on the Nigerian problems drew the attention of
the people in government
and she was rewarded with a Peace Award. She was invited to the Presidency and
I was there with her when was honoured as Nigeria’s Ambassador for Peace. At
10, she has set the record as the youngest recipient of the award,” he says
joyfully.
Not only is Adewale proud
that one of his mentee has brought his name to limelight in Nigeria, he is also
delighted that the award will go a long way to inspire all young people in the
country.
“The award is a call to
young Nigerians to maximise their potentials,” he says. “They should be encouraged
and where they are not clear, a mentor should be invited to help them get to
their desired heights,” he advises.
Regarding the Global
Teachers’ Prize holding in Dubai this year, the curator informs “the prize is
equivalent to the Global Peace Prize and is being organised by Vagin James
Foundation, UK, as a way of recognising teachers that have contributed
immensely to education and impacted on their societies.”
While many young trained
teachers are moving away from the chalk-and-talk profession for lack of
motivation, the artist is embracing it and doing it with great passion. On his
love for the profession Adewale notes,
“I do not believe I am
inferior or superior to anybody, as everybody is special. I cannot do the work
of a lawyer or a motor mechanic. They are great people at their own level.
Anybody that is somebody today passed through one teacher or the other. So, the
classroom is the pitch, where lives are moulded.
“I see myself as an ordinary
people’s teacher because beyond the classroom and the fact that I am a teacher,
there is so much I have inside of me. I bring what I have to the classroom,
which goes beyond the curriculum and I think that is what adds value to my
teaching.
“I always ask people that
beyond being a banker, an engineer or a medical doctor, what values have they
added to life? Every individual, depending on how you see yourself, is an agent
of change. Nobody is superior to you. Besides, you are not competing with
anybody. It’s just like the sun and the moon; they both produce light at
different times of the day. While the sun rules the day, the moon dominates the
night; they both shine and there is no competition,” he philosophises.
Adewale strongly
believes that teachers, as change agents, can make or mar the pupil’s life with
their words or attitude.
“Whatever you become in life,
you are either taught in school or you get it from someone. Some people are
what they are today, whether good or bad because of what their teachers told
them. This goes to show that words are very powerful. Beyond the classroom, the
personality of the teacher matters,” he says.
Reminiscing on life, the art
teacher, who is also the author of a motivational book, Why Sit We Here Till We Die? A Tale Of Four Lepers, believes that in life, one should not mark time
but maximise it.
“If you don’t know why you
are at a particular office or what you have achieved for the day, then you are
marking time and that is the essence of the book. If you wait for government to
put things right or for the right condition before you can launch out, know
that you are marking time and not maximising it.
“I wrote the West African
Schools Certificate Examination (WAEC) seven times and the Joint Admission And
Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) five times before I could make it to the
university. As a matter of fact, I was failing English Language, because before
now I could not speak or write in English very well. It was a defect I got from
my environment. Despite this, however, I had the urge to become somebody. I
hawked cold sachets of water (ice water), nylon bags, anything sellable on the
streets of Mushin, a notorious area in Lagos. Irrespective of my poor
background, however, I had the yearning to go to the university. And after five
attempts at JAMB and seven at WAEC, I gained admission into the Obafemi Awolowo
University (OAU), Ife, to study fine art and graduated with a 2.1,” he
explains.
Coming from such a
background, Adewale’s spirit could have been easily dampened and he could have
dropped the idea of going to the university, but he never gave up, not even for
a moment.
“I had more educated
people around me,” he says. “They mentored me for a change. Change is not just
the talk but putting the talk into actions. They encouraged me to study hard
and I also invested in books. I was hungry for growth. So, I borrowed a lot of
books from people around me. I was willing to learn and each time I failed, I
worked to improve on the previous experience.”
With these deep experiences,
Adewale wouldn’t want anyone he knows to go through such. So, he decided to
catch pupils young by investing more of his time on children.
“I like teaching
children. A child’s mind is flexible and easy to mould. I am passionate about
what I do and look forward to seeing them grow up, make positive impact in the
society with art. I am not regretting being an artist or an art teacher. I do
not envy scientists or those in other professions because I know I can use my
art to contribute my quota to the world and improve my society for the better.
“I would suggest that parents
get their children involved in arts. It helps the child to identify colours and
relate properly with his or her environment. It also helps the child to
coordinate and comprehend whatever, he or she is being taught. Art — literary,
drama, still drawing or any other — is key to development. If you remove Art,
life is empty; void and death.”
Knowing too well that
government cannot employ all Nigerian graduates, Adewale, an apostle of dignity
of labour, would want entrepreneurial skills to be taught to the child as early
as possible. And through his art mentorship, he has exposed some of his
protégées to marketing their works.
On what he does with
the children artworks, he says: “some are sold and the money goes to the child,
but some of the children are not keen on selling their works. Another aspect of
the entrepreneurial skills is to train the child to enable him or her be
self-reliant in future. Every child has a skill and parents should help them to
identify and develop them.”
Last year, one of his
protégées made a presentation of the Peace Portrait to President Goodluck
Jonathan. What exactly did he have in mind when he went for the event?
“I am not purse driven.
I am purpose driven,” he explains. “Being purse driven is when you work
according to your salary, which I don’t do. I work according to my value. I
never had it in mind that I would ever meet Mr. President or the Secretary to
the Federation. I am a very passionate human being. My life is driven by value
and whether I am rewarded or not doesn’t bother me because I know life will
reward me in a special way.
“Meeting the President was
one of the rewards for my years of hard work. There was a time I trekked long
distances to go and teach pupils. In those days, I was not seeing or meeting
the president, but was driven by passion because as of then, if you lack the
fund to move around, you may end up not going to teach. I want to stress that
when a man is driven by passion, he goes places.”
SOURCE: The Guardian Newspaper, Life Magazine, Sunday January 11, 2015. Pg.15
