Rev. Dr. Wes Hall shares some wisdom

It was at the opening ceremony of the 4th Pan Commonwealth Veterinary Conference in Barbados. Reverend Dr. Wes Hall was the featured speaker. What a good choice he was.

I will not promise to write about his oratory skills and style but believe me that he has a lot that we can learn from - his speech was captivating not only because of the content but also because of the style of presentation, moreover without the famous PowerPoint / LCD projector. I will just share about a few comments he made that I think will be useful to readers of this blog.

He confessed that when he was invited, he did not know what to share with veterinarians in such a big conference and from such diverse countries. He settled and decided to speak about Cricket in the West Indies - his past experiences and vision for the future. Although I am not a cricket fan (yet), and I have never played cricket, I learnt a lot from what Dr. Hall shared. He spoke with reference to Cricket but the principles apply to all aspects of life. He referred to Cricket as the legacy of the Commonwealth experience although he lamented that in the West Indies, the game had moved from amazing grace to disgrace.

As part of the team working towards reviving Cricket in the West Indies, he shared their strategy of harnessing talent from deep down in the communities and developing it through the so-called 'bottom up' approach. This way they would not have anybody joining the academy to learn basics. The basics would be acquired at an earlier stage such that when one gets to the academy they would be handled differently - polished to attain world-class status. Who said this strategy only applies in Cricket?

(In the picture below - L-R: Sam Okech - Uganda, Wes Hall - Barbados and Nick Gumede - Swaziland).

He also shared about how teamwork was vital in shaping his legacy as an outstanding Cricketer. He joked about how one time he did not openly acknowledge the contribution made by a teammate even though he knew it was the main factor in their success. The teammate withdrew his vital contribution with disastrous consequences! He had to repent of his 'sins' thereafter. Any lessons for you?

Motivation is one important thing in life, no wonder Dr. Daniel Goleman lists it as one of the elements of Emotional Intelligence. Rev. Hall shared three major things that a Cricket player (read everybody) should aim at achieving to be successful: knowledge, skill and desire. He shares these with the youngsters as a way of motivating them to strive for excellence in Cricket. He described desire as the starting point of all achievement.

Some short motivating quotes I picked out of the speech:
"Courage should overcome challenges"
"You do not go to the academy to learn basics"
"Dinosaurs did not adapt to changing conditions hence they went extinct"
"Success is sustained level of excellence"

Dr. Hall's choice of words and word combinations were remarkable. For example, in conclusion he said, "I am thankful for your hospitality that can only be surpassed by my gratitude and capacity to hold it."

Barbados

Barbados. I could easily live there for several reasons. I was privileged to visit Barbados in November this year (2007). I arrived 1 November and left 8 November. The trip from Uganda was of course a long one with a one night stop-over in London. The total flight hours from Entebbe (Uganda) is about 16-17 hours. Stressful though it was, I think the nature of the destination paid it all in full. No regrets.

The people in Barbados (the ones I interacted with) were very hospitable. I got ushered to this immediately I arrived at the immigration desk at the airport. Throughout my stay, this factor did not change. The staff at the three hotels I had something to do in were excellent. Within that short time, I stayed in two different hotels and had meals in three different hotels. They all had wonderful staff. My speculative conclusion is that this country being one of the tourist destinations in the West Indies, the citizen learn early in their life to be excellent hosts. Could it be true that both at home and at school the children are taught some skills in handling guests? Maybe it is introduced so early in their life that it becomes a lifestyle and not a professional practice. What lessons can we draw from that?

The 'strange' experience I got was the heat. I thought Uganda was hot (maximum temperature of 28 Celsius on a hot day) but I discovered it was relatively cooler. At the time, Barbados was 30 Celsius and a bit humid. I felt it immediately I disembarked from the plane. The drive to the hotel was good, of course in an air conditioned vehicle that suited most of us visitors. The environment looked familiar - suggestive of a tropical weather. It almost looked like home.

I met very many nice Barbadians (famously called Bajans) including the legendary Wes Hall, the Cricket legend (middle in the picture below - L-R: Sam Okech, Wes Hall and Nick Gumede). He is such a good orator and was a good choice for a speaker at the opening ceremony of the 4th Pan Commonwealth Veterinary Conference I had travelled to partcipate in (as speaker in the conference; moderator of a group session on animal welfare and invited observer in the CVA Council). Wes is a clergyman, a politician and leader (I believe that the latter two words can and should not necessarily be used to describe the same abilities, especially in Africa).

Rev. Hall shared with us his vision for the revival of Cricket in the West Indies and one of the many things I recall in his speech was that they are developing cricket right from the 'bottom upwards' - harnessing talent from the communities and growing them into international standards. I am totally persuaded that is the best way to go - it seems to be more sustainable.

My confession is that before I met and heard this gentleman speak about cricket, I had no interest at all in cricket but now I am very interested in learning how to count the points. What do these terms mean: wickets, runs, overs, etc and how do they happen?

Surely this page is not exhaustive of my Barbados experience. I will come back with more soon. Although I did not taste rum, I will write something small about it. I should also share something about the ship experience. I missed seeing the black belly sheep so do not expect much in that direction.

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever

It was named Ebola, after the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ebola river flows through an area where the disease is alleged to have first been identified (in 1976).

The current outbreak is the second in Uganda in about 7 years. On both occasions, it's origin is tracked to the Democratic Republic of Congo and consumption of infected animal carcasses have been alleged on both occasions.

Since the disease has no known treatment, prevention is vital in its control. Lots of information is available on Ebola. Getting the population to know the facts is, but just one, significant step in controlling the disease.

I provide the following sources for readers of this blog:
1. Information packet from CDC.
2. A fact sheet from DHPE
3. Q&A from msnbc

I am back

After a period of silence (on this site), I return with quite a bit of energy to share lots that happened while I was away. I promise that I will be writing more regularly on diverse subjects as I have so far done. I provide a buffet and the reader chooses what to consume to their fill, and return for more.

The subject line above reminds me of our Ugandan politics. It was once written in a Newspaper headline in Kampala that, "Bad news; Akena Adoko is Back". Several years later on, in another paper, somebody rephrased it as, "Good news, Akena Adoko is back". The said Dr. Akena Adoko was in the helm of leadership in Uganda in the 60s and early 80s. He got exiled several times: in the early to late 70s, then in late 80s and again in the early 90s. He currently lives in the UK. Each time he returned to Uganda he hit the headlines. There are some interesting writings about the life of Dr. N. Akena Adoko e.g. Simon Regan's "Scandals in Justice" and in "NHS Exposed".

For my case, please consider it good news that I am back to the blog. Welcome aboard.

Malaria

If you see, hear, smell it come towards you simply flee. Malaria is not a friend and has no good intentions for human beings. I did not know I was dealing with it so I gave it sufficient time to wreck some havoc. This partly explains my 'absence' from here.

I will share more later. Thank God for His healing power working through various means.

$100 Laptop (OLPC) Project

I first heard of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project in an e-learning Africa conference in Nairobi Kenya (end of May 2007). At the time, the project representative seem to suggest, in his captivating presentation, that the laptops would be available only to (through) governments of developing nations. I was among those individuals who thought they had the opportunity of returning home with a beautiful present for the children. We were wrong, none was on offer (going to be offered) to the public.

I am glad to learn through an article on the BBC website that the laptops will now be available to the public. What still puzzles me is that it is, so far, available for purchase by US residents (only)! I am still working out the rationale.

The "Special One"

I am a soccer fan and I have no apologies for it. I do not only love to watch the skills, talent in display but also the style. Above all I learn lots of lessons from a soccer game. On several occasions I have used the analogy of a soccer game to help me in teaching.

Last week, on Thursday 20 September 2007, I woke up early morning to the news that Mr. Jose Mario dos Santos Felix Mourinho the (former) Chelsea FC Manager had quit the club. It came out of the blue, not only for me but for several other commentators. Again I thought I would be the only one to miss him but several have confessed similarly.

When I got the news, I quickly thought of the legacy he left at Chelsea FC. I scribbled something for the press but it is not out and probably will not - the news is getting stale. This blog should surely publish it:

TEN REASONS WHY I THINK JOSE MOURINHO IS ‘THE SPECIAL ONE’
I woke up to the news early Thursday 20 September 2007 morning that Jose Mourinho had quit Chelsea FC as manager. Thanks to BBC Radio service. I could not help but think about his legacy. He surely will never, by any measure, be described as the worst manager the English Premiership (or Soccer) has seen. Take it or leave it; believe it or not (hide your head in the sand); love him or hate him, I think Jose Mourinho (JM) has a legacy and is an inspiration. I volunteer highlights of only ten reasons why.

o JM is a risk taker. JM took decisions out of the ordinary. I guess he did this because of his understanding of the risk-reward ratio. Where there is a big risk, there is a big reward if the transaction succeeds. He was not shy to make two or three changes at once half way a match or even deploying a defender as striker. On some occasions it paid and on others it did not – that is life (better try and fail than fail to try).

o Winning spirit – JM hated to lose and this motivated him to aim higher and higher and also to believe in himself. This in turn motivated and spurred the players match after match.

o JM’s troubles with the club owners started sometime back but despite all those troubles, he stuck in there and continued to do what he knew best. Thanks to his resilience. The spirit of resilience also rubbed on the players and eventually club. Many will recall how Chelsea performed against odds in the previous season when injuries dictated to the extent that a third choice goalkeeper and a make-shift defence had to play against an attack-minded Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. Despite these troubles, Chelsea progressed in the UEFA Champions League (semi finals), won the FA cup and finished second in the English Premier League. Resilience in character.

o Motivation. I love the moments JM teased the press with the possibility of winning four trophies in a season. I do not believe that any team can do it in this era. The gullible press unfortunately took that as a bench mark to judge JM’s performance. I see a different side of it, as summarised in this West African saying: ‘when you aim at the moon, you will surely come down with a few stars’. Think Big and make the squad think likewise and you will pick at least one trophy a season. It worked for JM – he motivated/led the players to aim high.

o JM ‘introduced’ a new style of soccer which was, to some degree, shared by Mr. Rafael Benitez. He studied and recorded game details; created a defensive mindset even in attack-minded players and in the process he used the players effectively – the focus was three points (a win) in every match and a win (3 points) needed just one extra goal. Period. He was comfortable with a 1-0 win even when he would possibly have spurred his boys to score more. It is a fact that in a game of points one should aim at attaining the highest number of points and in a game of knock-outs, one aims at a win. This is only logical and I think it is a principle in life but critics soon described the style as ‘boring’. No wonder they criticized Chelsea and Liverpool on their style of play. I guess the critics were not happy because the style had ‘robbed’ off trophies from the usual suspects. Liverpool soon took the UEFA Champions League trophy and Chelsea took a few local ones. It paid and proved that the style works. A paradigm shift? Before he left, JM had promised a different style and we had started seeing it unfold in the form of accurate one touch passes, back heels, dribbles, etc but alas, he is out before delivering his promise. If he stayed maybe his critics would drop the word 'boring' and pick on I don't know what.

o Independence of opinion and speaking out of his gut feelings. This factor could have contributed to his exit. JM did not fear to express his opinion on anything (for or against). I will not be surprised if one of the causes of his exit is not related to his opinion on signings and the Club owner’s interference with his work. I still do not believe that JM chose to sign (and play) Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack and I do not think he kept his opinion secret about it. It is rumoured that these players were personal preferences of the club owner (or is it his family members). JM would not last in such an environment.

o Being Ugandan (African), I could not miss this one. JM, through some means, got African players onto the first 11 selection sheet. He developed and brought to light the beauty of African talents in Essien, Kalou, Drogba, Obi and Geremi. I pray the next manager keeps them on and also that they collectively stick with Chelsea (Geremi is gone to do wonders elsewhere – it is already obvious).

o The English image of the team. Not so much because I am an England supporter but more because I am a strong proponent of the notion that clubs in the National Leagues should have a good number of the citizen of that country in their squads, actually on the first 11 selection sheet. JM maintained Terry, Lampard, Bridge, A. Cole, J. Cole, Wright-Phillips on his first 11, I believe, partly in respect of the country (England).

o He subtly introduced the 60/30 principle. We have all heard of the 90/10 and the 80/20 principles elsewhere but JM invented the 60/30 principle in soccer. Many soccer analysts unfortunately missed it! This is a simple rotational strategy – change players 30 minutes to the end of the game (60minutes into the game). This does one or all of three things: the first is to give every first team member an opportunity to play; secondly to bring in a player/players who can change the direction of a match and thirdly to strategically rest a player for the next game. Barring injuries, most managers make changes ten minutes to the end of the match with the hope of changing the direction of the game but unless it is a defender introduced, the fresh player rarely makes significant match-changing impact.

o JM, with ease, created (conquered?), occupied and maintained space for himself in many people’s minds – both as friend or foe in equal measure. Every football fan, every sports analyst on TV, Radio, Newspaper thought about or mentioned JM’s name almost once every week either in praise or otherwise. In fact he created / made jobs easier for many football analysts. One of the Sports Columnist for the "New Vision" newspaper in Uganda, Mr. Aldrine Nsubuga Sr. (an ardent critic of Mourinho/Chelsea and Wenger/Arsenal – my perception) once surprisingly described him as “a stranger who came to become a landlord in a foreign land at nobody’s invitation” and as “a man who has come to challenge the established order in Europe”. I couldn’t agree more. He did exactly that.

Hate him, love him, JM made his mark and I believe that his departure from Stamford Bridge is a big relief to many managers in the English Premiership, at least for the time his destination is not defined. He has been a big pain to them. Unfortunately, all the above attributes, either singly or collectively, seem to have attracted hatred for Chelsea FC and members of the Chelsea squad among many sports analysts, football governing bodies and even some match officials. Who is not hated by somebody anyway, sometimes even for no genuine reason?

Photos from ESPN Soccernet