Get to Know Titi Tijani, Advocate & Community Leader

Titi Tijani is a well-respected advocate, activist, and community leader. She has made an incredible impact not only within the realm of the Folklorama Festival, once a Pavilion Coordinator for the Africa Pavilion, but year-round in the broader community, where she serves as the President of African Communities of Manitoba Inc. (ACOMI). In 2020, she was named on Ace Burpee’s Top 100 Manitobans list. Most recently in 2021, Tijani was an Honour 150 recipient, an award recognizing outstanding people across the province of Manitoba.

We wanted to learn a bit more about her and her history as a volunteer and prominent member of the African community in Manitoba. Here’s what Titi Tijani had to say.

How did you first get involved in Folklorama?

My family and I had been attending the festival of cultural extravaganza since 1992 dedicating one night to attend 3 pavilions including the Afro-Caribbean Pavilion.  In 1997, I attended the debut of the Africa Pavilion.  It was a packed house filled with Manitobans of African descent and friends of Africa.  I was very proud and moved to see my culture on stage being enjoyed and appreciated by many patrons in attendance.  The following year, I joined the kitchen team and volunteered for the whole week.  I eventually joined the organizing committee and became the Volunteer Coordinator, responsible for recruitment, training, evaluation, and appreciation of volunteers for all sections of the pavilion.  Over the years, I joined the ACOMI Board and I have chaired the Africa Pavilion Planning Committee.

What does being an active part of your community mean to you?

Being active in my community has been very important and fulfilling over the years to date. In my early years in Winnipeg, I experienced difficulty in my settlement journey as I had difficulty finding work in my career, as the only jobs available were low-end jobs for highly educated professionals.  This was the norm for many foreign-trained immigrants who come for a better life and are experiencing the opposite. This experience was my motivation to become active in my community and work with others to change this experience.  A high population of people of African descent have experienced discrimination and racism that has prevented them from experiencing good outcomes in comparison to others in our society.  Joining ACOMI has provided me with the opportunity to bring awareness of these and many issues plaguing our community and advocate for change for better outcomes for our community.  A lot has been achieved over the years including the awareness and promotion of our culture, instilling pride in our youth, and due to our advocacy which led to the Government supporting the recognition of foreign credentials for foreign-trained professionals.  However, there is still more work to be done and I want to see our community achieve the dreams and aspirations we have set for ourselves.

Tell us something unique about the Africa Pavilion/your culture!

The Africa Pavilion is the largest Pavilion in terms of the number of communities and cultures represented. We represent an entire continent of people which means we have the opportunity to represent all 54 countries in Africa and the many cultures, languages, and groups that make it up. This makes the Africa Pavilion a mini-Folklorama within itself. Each show is completely different because of the many cultures we represent. At the Africa Pavilion, you will not see the same show twice! I am Nigerian and one of my favourite dances that we showcase at the Pavilion is from the Ummuna –  a group of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. They showcase an aspect of our culture called spraying, where on celebratory days, the celebrants are recognized with gifts of money if they dance with the community. The more you dance, the more money you get! It is a dance you don’t want to miss.

Share a favourite Folklorama memory with us!

My favourite Folklorama memory is when we were able to bring the entire Team Nigeria basketball team to the Pavilion. This was the last year of Folklorama before the pandemic. Our stage management team was able to coordinate with the Nigerian team to visit the Pavilion after their game against Team Canada. Everyone at the Pavilion was so excited to see them come out and the photoshoots afterward were amazing. We were able to represent just how diverse our community really is.

If someone was interested in getting involved in a pavilion as a volunteer, what advice would you give them?

Register early! While there are many opportunities to volunteer during the Pavilion week, there are also so many opportunities to get involved before and after. The Africa Pavilion is one of the largest as we represent an entire continent of people. That means hundreds of performers and volunteers representing dozens of countries; this needs a lot of coordination and support. We start planning in October and are always welcoming new volunteers to join our planning committee.

February is Black History Month – what does this month mean to you?

Black history month is the acknowledgment of how members of the Black, African, Caribbean, and diasporic communities have contributed to our community. It is the recognition that we have always been here, creating space and making change despite the discrimination, racism, and oppression we have seen against our community. Black history is world history, and February is a time when we as a people are encouraged to stop and reflect on that. It is important to remember that Black history should not be focused in on only one month. We have seen hundreds of years of the erasure of Black history so it will take many more years to ensure that the equal representation of our community’s history is remembered. Life started in Africa, so it is important for us all to remember that none of what we see would exist without Africans!