We have been exploring how to make equipment, and the coordinators in Bahir Dar are experts at making balls. These photos show Birtukan making a ball out of newspaper and a vest!
The newspaper is scrunched up tightly and then the vest wrapped tightly round them with a final few stitches to hold it together.

I sometimes wonder what it is about planning that makes it so difficult. Perhaps it is the variables involved … and sure enough when I looked up the etymology of variable then the word fickle reared its head. Perhaps we don’t really believe in planning because we know the variables are fickle … like the weather …changeable.
When we are planning with others the “what ifs” are soon multiplied. If I have 10 “what ifs” and am working with 10 others with “what ifs” that’s already 110 “what ifs”. I wonder how many “what ifs” are unmanageable?
Yet planning can begin to control the “what ifs” and if in seeking answers to the “what ifs” we engage in constructive conversations to find solutions or at least attempts at solutions, then the process of planning becomes highly informative and developmental.
There is also a certain arrogance about planning that some people find difficult. The author of the plan has to suggest work for others to do; timescales for others to keep; performance indicators by which others may be judged. Yet … if this is a cooperative process, others can begin to have genuine input and thus jointly own the plan.

I wonder whether the real struggle with planning is that it is absent from our amygdala!! Are we still better at instantaneous reactions to hunger and the need for survival as well as other basic needs? Is this more comfortable for us? An essential part of being human is the ability to be instantaneous. This is absolutely demonstrated every time someone jumps in a car and contributes to global warming. The instant satisfaction of instant travel with the amygdala in control avoiding accidents as we text and speak at the wheel with barely any consideration of the long term effects on the planet or even the driver in front of us!!

We need planning to truly work together, and we now have to work together in everything we do. Here in Bahir Dar the planning the Cheshire Foundation has done will make a genuine planned difference to the lives of many disabled people, Now that’s cooperation!!

Going fishing for table tennis nets

Part of my role during this trip is to investigate how we can make improvised equipment here in Ethiopia. As with all these things the most effective way is to use local materials and techniques. Kasanish is the coordinator in Kebele 2, and she has made table tennis nets, using the same methods used to make fishing nets. Here she is at work, with a progressing net, and here is a prototype card to help others make similar nets.

After Ken Blacks Master training here in October, the University have made great progress. A course was held over 4 Saturdays, with 5 hours each day. Students learned and practiced the principles of Inclusion. The University decided to offer it as an extra-curricular course, and 51 students attended.

I interviewed 6 of the students and they were very impressive. They had greatly enjoyed the content, finding the inclusive focus quite new. They all expressed the opinion that they would now welcome the opportunity to include disabled students in PE lessons. All 51 will soon be placed in schools around Ethiopia, and so the influence of the work will soon be felt.

The University also has a budget for community outreach, and as part of that they are going to offer the training to local high school teachers.

It’s hard to believe it is the year of an Olympics again, but I’m proud to be involved with something that started as part of the legacy for London 2012 and is still going!!

International Inspiration was set up as an initiative in 2007, well before 2012, to try to reach 12 million people in 20 different countries. That target was exceeded, but what is more significant for legacy is that International Inspiration is now a dynamic organisation that is still driving significant international development. I’m not sure how many countries can boast 9 years of legacy from an Olympics, but the UK can!!

I’m going back to Bahir Dar following work done by Inclusion guru Ken Black earlier this year where he trained Trainers to continue the work on inclusion once support from the UK decreases. Once again this is significant strategic work from the UK where unique expertise is spread amongst a community, empowering it to deliver for itself. I’m going to help produce resources and give any mentoring help that trainers may need over the next three weeks.

Watch this space … photos will follow … I fly tomorrow (24th Jan)