Meet a YMM Parent: Q&A with Dango Gogo

Dango Gogo is a well-known community leader. Whether she is leading the Multicultural Association of Wood Buffalo as its volunteer President or busy with her full-time job as the Managing Partner of Don Scott Law, Dango and her husband, Joshua, remain parents first. Their daughter, Oraibi, is a priority – always. The pair met in 1994 and married in their birth country, Nigeria, in 2003. Ora was born in Ottawa on August 6, 2007.

YMM Parent caught up with Dango (also a YMM Magazine’s Top 50 Under 50 honoree) to ask her a bit about herself as a Fort McMurray resident for almost nine years and her thoughts on parenting.

YMM Parent: What are some of the priorities you both have as parents?

Dango Gogo: Our top priority is to raise our daughter in the right way so that she will not depart from the truth and solid foundation when she is older. We teach her to show love and respect to others and treat everyone the way she would like to be treated. Faith in God, love of family and community/country. She wants to be a medical doctor and has called herself Doctor Ora since she was a year old.

YP: We’ve learned Oraibi is very active in the community as a competitive dancer and assistant dance teacher with Generation Dance Studio. What are some of her other interests?

DG: She loves working with kids and entertains them with dance and puppets. Ora (Oraibi) volunteers every week at church and teaches Sunday school. She also volunteers with Donna Boone and her team at different summer camps and travels all over Alberta. She plays the piano and is completing RCM level 7 piano; performs at music festivals and competitions and has won several awards and scholarships. She loves cooking and experimenting with her own recipes.

YP: We understand that you’ve lived in Fort McMurray now for over a decade. What keeps you calling Fort McMurray home?

DG: I think we are blessed to be living and raising our child in the most multicultural region in Canada. Let’s teach our children to love their neighbours as themselves because love is the only way we can overcome hatred and systemic injustice.

We live in a free country and have been given freedom. The freedom we have been given is not for selfish gains, or to harbour hatred for our fellow citizens. Let us teach our children to use the freedom we have to love and serve one another to correct our mistakes and make our community and country a better place. Loving one another for the betterment of a community and a country – good philosophy to live by, indeed. And, one we need to remind ourselves about – now, more than ever.

Photo caption: Dango said she believes she’s raising her “child in the most multicultural region in Canada.” Her daughter Oraibi is active in the arts community as a competitive dancer, dance instructor and pianist. Supplied photos

About the author

Kiran Malik-Khan

Freelance Journalist

Kiran is a national award-winning communications specialist, freelance journalist, and social media consultant. She loves telling community stories, and is a strong advocate for inclusion, diversity, women’s rights, and multiculturalism. Got story ideas? Contact her via Twitter: @KiranMK0822.