I feel I have an absolute privilege when people ask me to be involved with writing resources. I get to work with creative people like William Rudling and the Ethiopian artist whose work is shown here. I also get to help people express their wonderful ideas. There is very little original in what I do, I simply listen and help others express their ideas. I am so lucky

I learned about FIFA’s fickle flower policy when I was in Tanzania. They rejected the African grass in the National Stadium in Dar and requested European type grass that needs excessive care, water, chemicals etc. I was in the Amhara region stadium today in Bahir Dar and it seemed the same thing was happening until I saw 10 women with large hats carefully weeding the clover and flowering grass from the pitch!! That Football can’t cope with flowers says everything!!

I was amazed at the very generous exchange rate I got from M and S as an account holder there. I also get a free birthday tea … nice. Anyway the wonderful exchange rate enabled me to buy some shirts for the Kebele coordinators here thanks also to the great deals at the Adidas shop at Cheshire Oaks. Here are some of the coordinators wearing the shirts.

I will try to create a soundscape for you. First of all imagine the time of day, 5:45 am and it is dark, the darkness you get when electricity is not wasted lighting deserted streets. There is a sliver of moon and the stars are there, but in a strange orientation for a person from the UK, so the plough is on its side and orions belt looks casually worn to one side! Then imagine about 80 Ethiopians in a school playground, on each side of a square there are 2-3 rows of about 8-12 people. Then the sound starts: “and; hulet; sost; arat”. Say it gently to yourself and you are counting to four in Amharic: “and; hulet; sost; arat” … “and; hulet; sost; arat”. Now imagine the soft rubber sound of shoes perfectly in rhythm, and then, in staccato syncopated form, the urging sounds from the self-declared leaders in the group “heh; heh; heh” exactly between the beats, perfectly punctuating the silent space between the counting. If you then imagine bodies moving sideways or forwards you should have a perfect image of the keep fit class I am lucky to attend while I am here.

I run home imagining I am Abebe Bikele or Haile Gabriel Selaiise!!

Yesterday I attended a conference on Leprosy and was profoundly impressed. The speakers were very moving and the cross-section in the audience is something rarely experienced in the UK. At the end we lit candles to show that we had been enlightened by those with leprosy in Africa. I realised my own experience of leprosy was biblical!! It can now be cured with antibiotics and even the effects of hard skin lesions on faces can be eradicated.

Today I attended a mourning of a close relative of one of the project. To hear the sound of women totally distressed by the loss and able to express it moved me to tears. I wonder if we are moving further and further away from humanity in the west? We have so much to learn from Africa.

In the books concerning Africa I have read, many authors describe the smell and feel that greets them, as they walk down the steps of the plane, as a unique welcome.
For me it is the unmistakable sound of an old Toyota Land Cruiser The sound of the engine is a combination of a wave on a gravelly beach; a herd of donkeys running over a wooden bridge, and the encompassing sound of a wind as it passes you by. I experienced it first in 1974, and now 42 years later it has the same effect … welcome to the continent of great journeys, and inevitably a driver who will become a great friend.