Iya Oriyomi has been a member of Ile Ori for the past three years. She became familiar with Ile Ori in Atlanta at the 2004 unveiling of the bust of Dr. John Henrik Clarke.  She was very much impressed with the ceremony in which Ile Ori participated.  During that event, she received a flyer with a number to call for more information about Ile Ori, and the rest is pleasant, fulfilling history.

Since then, Iya Oriyomi has become a student and devotee to the Ile, so much so that she drives from Savannah to Atlanta monthly to attend events. During the past several years, she has enjoyed a variety of wonderful experiences there. She has met many devotees from the southeastern region of the U.S. and from around the world. Most of them have had some part in her spiritual growth.

Iya Oriyomi recently organized a book club for the young people who attend the Ile. Our first winning recipient was eight-year-old Ifakorede Riggins. While completing her regularly assigned school reading materials during the 2012-2013 school year, she read an additional ten (10) books! Congratulations Ifakorede!

 Iya Oriyomi is the second child born to Grace & Ellis Henderson in Saginaw, Michigan. She and her four siblings were raised in Chicago, Illinois. They are proud products of the Chicago Public School System. After high school, she attended Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and earned a B.S. degree in physical education. She returned to Chicago and worked for Chicago youth centers. In 1988, she earned the M.Ed. degree in learning disabilities from Chicago State University. For twenty-two years, she taught in the Chicago public school system. During the summer of 2003, she moved to Savannah, Georgia, to change the pace of her life.

Her monthly drive to Atlanta will be a lot more relaxed now that she recently retired from the Savannah-Chatham Public School System. She taught there for ten additional years, concluding a thirty-two-year career as an educator.

I end this sketch with an adupe to my spiritual family at the Ile for all their loving support during this crucial phase of my spiritual growth.

Adupe and Asante Sana.