About

The most wonderful place in the world is Umuopara, it might not have the best restaurants, hotels or sights. It might not have the best roads, schools or shops. There is no gigabyte internet and phone service really sucks. But, it was home to my parents and to their parents, it was there I grew up, I experienced life in all its unblemished and unencumbered glory. The early morning trek to the stream to get water, then a longer trek to school, the tales and games by moonlight, the night time udara expeditions, the search for ugba and ero in the forests and the natural swimmers with possible Olympic times who never made it past the village river.

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Fast forward several years later, visiting my ancestral home, a lot has changed, but this change is so slow, so languid, the world has left my ancestral home behind. There is so much deprivation, so much suffering, so many youth stuck in one stage of development from a lack of opportunities or a lack of funding even with available opportunities.

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International Coalition of Umuopara Children and Unions was a dream I had when I first visited the United Kingdom. I learnt there was an Umuopara Development Union in England, it reminded me of the then almanacs my father used to hang in our living room in Lagos, these almanacs (for those who remember them), had various Umuopara Unions across Nigeria, there was a Kaduna branch, Lagos branch, to name just a few. When I first came to the USA, I also was made aware that an Umuopara development union existed in the DMV area, in Texas, maybe in other states too.

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I wondered, could there be unions too in Asia, in South Africa, in Europe (outside the United Kingdom)? Then this idea came to mind, how can I in the internet age, create an online platform for all Umuopara people to connect, share ideas, history and opinions freely with no political or religious affiliation. Then aggregate these ideas and resources, channeling them to the enrichment of Umuopara and its people. And Icucu.org was born.