On this episode of MEET THE GUEST with E PLUS The Storyteller, Abiola Okunaiya Alifa tells us more about the initiative: THE SMARTKIDZ.

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  E PLUS The Storyteller: Congratulations on the anniversary of your amazing initiative, The SmartKidz Club👍🏽 It's one year already, and I'm guessing this means a lot to you, yes?


 Abiola Okunaiya Alifa: Absolutely! It has been a phenomenal one year, and I am so grateful to, (first and foremost) God, our super supportive community, our volunteers, the parents for always connecting their kids to participate with our activities, we do not take their trust for granted and we are more than committed to ensuring we deliver our mandate with excellence! And yes, to your question, this means a lot to me for so so many reasons!



E PLUS The Storyteller: Great👍🏽 So what's the story behind  Smartkidz?


 Abiola Okunaiya Alifa: Hmmm! 

The idea behind smartkidz was conceived when the lock-down began in March 2020, we were all locked / 'stuck' at home and I found myself constantly looking for activities to engage my kids at home, and also ensuring that they were educative activities. So I invested in a lot of research looking for all kinds of learning activity for my kids (I am sure so many parents will relate with this as well). It was also around this time that the 'Black Lives Matter' parade started, and that ignited something in me. 

 I began to ponder: Perhaps I should start tailoring these activities (cooking and baking together, story telling etc) with my kids to reflect our culture and use it as an opportunity to enlighten them on our culture, food, values and instill a strong sense of identity in them in a very fun and enjoyable way,

and then fast forward to October 2020, I had become so fond and passionate about this idea that I wanted to see more of it in our community, I shared the idea with some members of my community and one of them was like, "Why don't you package this into a program, and we can give you a platform during the ANNS (Association of Nigerians in Nova Scotia)Nigerian Week to do something for our kids".

 Then I was like, "Okay". 

Honestly, the story has evolved/ metamorphosed since then, but l can say that is the little story behind smartkidz!


E PLUS The Storyteller: Interesting! Let's talk more about the reception.Would you actually say, parents are involved enough?


Abiola Okunaiya Alifa: The reception has been fantastic so far! Parents' involvement has been so good! It's not always convenient to set the kids up to join the online programs, but they still do! I must give the kudos to them. Especially for our smartkidz kitchen time when the kids are engaged cooking some delicious meals (so far we have cooked, potatoes and tomato egg sauce, egusi and Eba, Mackerel fish sauce, cup cakes) in the kitchen at home. This wouldn't have been possible without the parents supporting/supervising the kids as we cooked along, and as a team to make these amazing dishes. Even during the Mothers day special program in May 2021, when the kids did facials for mums and made mums a Smoothie! It was such an amazing bonding time for mums to just sit and receive these treats from their best little humans! The lists goes on and on.. So yes! Parents' involvement has been beyond Amazing!


E PLUS The Storyteller: That's really Good to know! So what next?


Abiola Okunaiya Alifa: I really like that question! It triggers one to think. Well I have given this a thought (and it's on the agenda of our upcoming board meeting). But on a general note, the plan is to remain consistent while improving and to expand our reach so that we can continue to impact the next generation, one program at a time, one child at a time!

We will continue to pursue our working mandate which is from the desire to see the next generation gracefully expressing themselves in the knowledge of who they are, where they are from and their roots in their culture and heritage. Our goal is to preserve the values and Strength of our heritage for the next generations to come by engaging in version activities that forester knowledge, interest and pride in our roots through our programs and activities!



E PLUS The Storyteller: Excellent👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Indeed, The Smartkidz initiative is influencing children positively and here to stay! We look forward to more success stories and from E PLUS The Storyteller Creative Team, we wish you all the best👍🏽

Abiola Okunaiya Alifa: Thank you very much Eplus🤗


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