LIBRARY TO HOST EVENING OF STORIES, SONGS AND DANCE

The Tompkins County Public Library will host Aloja Airewele for “Once Upon a Childhood Paradise: Paying Homage to a Place of Nurture and Affirmation,” an evening of stories, songs and dance Wednesday, July 27 at 6:00 PM in the BorgWarner Community Room.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Airewele is a trained physician and worked in family medicine before immigrating with his family to the United States in 1997. He currently serves as a case manager for the American Red Cross and works for Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, but considers his true calling to be storytelling.

Those storytelling skills will be on display during the Library event, which is free and open to an all-ages audience. Airewele will be joined by many friends and noted community members as they pay tribute to the places that helped shape their lives.

“I have set aside this time to honor a place where as a child I blossomed under the nurture and affirmation of the wise and kind people of EWU in Mid-Western Nigeria. It was place that took me in as a young person, showed me uncommon kindness, wisdom and became my cheerleaders as I progressed in life,” Airewele said. “Through songs, narratives, dance and celebration I will take the Ithaca community through this period of my life that became the soil in which the seed of future fruitfulness in life was sown.”

Attendees will also be invited to share their stories during this event. For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at cwheeler@tcpl.org or (607) 272-4557 extension 248.