A day of Optimism

True inspiration comes when you surround yourself with optimistic people. I’m honored to be among the fifteen fellows here at the D&F academy in Hamburg on the sports coaching fellowship. It’s now exactly two months before we leave to our home countries and I remember vividly when I arrived on the 16th April 2012 I had no friends or family member in Hamburg and the only thing that I knew was to stay in Germany and participate in the fellowship program which the milestones were clear for the next 10 weeks which was communicated to me before.

I was very expectant of many things with a lot of worries in mind if what I read was really going to be true and this is a normal feeling I guess many people have when they travel to a place for the first time and to make it even worse no one knows you. I’m very confident and happy now to share my feelings of optimism after all that I have learned from my co-fellows, D&F staff and experts. One of the greatest things I will leave with back home is a clear road map of my dream project which I was able to think through together with my colleagues and D&F team who helped me clear the mist ahead and see myself succeeding no matter what challenges I might face.

 I arrived with a forest of ideas and for me to get a clear way through my project, D&F academy offered me the best learning environment that I didn’t have a chance to experience before considering my background. This experience makes me even feel inspired with a lot confidence in solving the puzzles that I will face when I’m back home be it organizational or life in general.

In my bag pack back home I have good memories from day one till the last days to come and now I have a big family in Hamburg who believes in me and my project that instill the feeling of courage to stay on the course to discover my potentials even further. I love the adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” my experience here in Hamburg especially on the two optimism days could neither be captured on pictures or even words and that is why my new version of the adage is “It feels different if you smell or taste the food” This is a metaphor meaning in this context when you experience an event real time it is quite different when you watch it on TV or get story narration from the third party.

One of my best times in Hamburg I would say is optimism day and the visit to Dedon company even though all the days I learned something special either from people around me, sports project activities and generally all the environment I have been to. So for one to succeed in life many of the things I have learned are; Be optimistic in life! Smile and believe in yourself. Surround yourself with optimistic people and people who believes in you. Take every moment as a learning point.

Don’t expect everyone to say YES also try to understand and learn why others said NO. Embrace diversity! Don’t be selfish pass on the knowledge to the next generation. Change starts with you so think possibilities and be positive. See opportunities in difficult situations.

I hope these few notes will help you even become optimistic in life, I have realized that the first thing I have done today is to wake up early before everyone else and write this article. I’m really inspired by my good experiences at D&F academy.

Adrienne Morgan founder of www.morgan-hammond.de & musician, Wilson Masaka and Oya Ogurcu board member at D&F and Interior designer www.odesign.com.tr 

Long live D&F !

Article by Wilson Masaka ( Founder of Wilsen Initiative) D&F fellow – Hamburg, Germany

Tips on How to Start Your Sport Initiative

Today I am going to share with you four easy steps on how to set up your sports initiative. I have a strong background in sports in this case football; I have played in the regional league in Kenya and participated in the Norway cup which is an annual international youth tournament in Norway in different years. Currently I am the head coach of Mathare North Ranger F.C which is a small community club I founded with my colleagues in the slums of Mathare North in Nairobi, Kenya. Football spirit or if want to call it ‘blood’ runs in my family lineage whereby my father used to play active football, one of my brother and three sisters too plays football in Nairobi, Kenya at different levels.

My fellowship at D&F academy in Hamburg, Germany has been able to offer me the opportunity to learn more while I share my vast experiences gained by coaching a group of youth while also learning other important skills to make me realize my dream plans in life and impact positively in the entire world.

Sport has been the root source for many successes in my life from education, work and currently I am on a fellowship here in Hamburg, Germany. I am strong advocate for sports for development whereby it has impacted positively in my life by creating connections in my life most particularly shaping my career path. This is why I want to share with you four easy steps that will help you start your sports initiative that you are passionate about, and as a result it will create avenues for youths to use their energy positively and discover more about themselves and opportunities around. The Four steps to consider while starting your sports Initiative;

1. Decide on the sport.
2. Develop your mission and vision.
3. Create a support team.
4. Spread the word.

Step 1: Decide on the sports. You need to decide on the sport that you want to engage in, for example is it football, rugby, hockey, basket ball etc. The most important of all you need to have passion in the sport and understand the rules of the game. It also helps when you have experience playing the sport.

Step2: Develop your mission and vision. Create a mission and vision statement for your initiative. Ask yourself; Why? What? Who? When and How? questions that will help you craft your mission and vision statements.

Step 3: Create a support team You need a team of passionate people to work with and help you in achieving your vision, as the adage goes “No one is an Island, together we stand divided we fall” I believe in that saying and it is a philosophy I have used to be successful. So connect with likeminded people…

Step 4: Spread the word Finally step four, get the message out and get to be known for what you want to achieve and share that knowledge, skills and experiences because everyone discovers something new while working on a project. I am very glad to share this precious life experiences and I hope it will help you even come up with great ideas and sports projects.

You can’t miss to watch this video; How to start you sports initiative by Wilson Masaka D&F fellow from Kenya.

 If you have any direct questions please drop me an email at wilson.masaka [at] gmail.com

Recycling Starts With You.

In every household there’s trash which is collected after use of plastics, papers or food stuff etc. The same trends are found in offices and factories, the question is how do you manage your waste? It might not be a surprise but the truth of the matter is that we need to invent new ideas of managing waste from our homes, to our offices and the environment in general. Proper Waste Management (PWM) will save us time and money thus making our cities clean and safer than before.

 We need to cultivate the culture of respecting our environment and understanding the importance of recycling and learn from other countries how they do it. Currently I’m in Hamburg- Germany and it is amazing how people respect the systems that are in place from trains, pedestrians path, bicycle paths, designated playing fields and every place that can be accessed by people with special needs just to mention but a few. For example there are no conductors on buses or trains.

 They use what is called ‘honest policy’ whereby you need to get your ticket to the designated machines before boarding, even though if you are caught without a ticket by the inspectors on random check you are charged around 40 Euros (Kes 4,000) on the spot, no bargaining. So how can we instill the same discipline in our African continent is the patient question here, I’m learning a lot from the systems here in Germany as much as I can and all the answers are written on the ‘walls ’. It is high time we change how we think and do things as a nation and learn from other countries.  I would urge the authorities in charge if they happen to visit this great nations, in terms of infrastructures, they should pick best practices and deploy them to our own context.

As a best practice, I love the way trash is managed here in Germany whereby the sorting starts right in our homes. There are special colors for containers for plastic bags that either takes in plastics, glasses, food stuff etc and this is an universal trend with clear writing and graphics to guide you where you should place the trash, unlike in my home country where a big percentage of everything is put in one big plastic bag and the sorting done later in the dumping site. You won’t believe how it is in the slums even though there has been some improvement on how waste management is handled, which has offered job opportunities for the many youth in Kenya.

I must commend the youth initiatives and organizations who are working tirelessly on waste management in our country by turning trash into cash.  If the country could start adopting the sorting process right from our homes and across the streets, the returns would be immense. Left Picture: An example of trash bins with clear labeling to help in the sorting found at the train stations.

Best practice;
Supermarket bottles machine ( Pfandautomat ): For every bottle or plastic containers especially for beers and sodas etc,  they can be taken straight to the supermarkets and placed on a machine which gives a receipt voucher that you can either buy something in the supermarket or get an exchange for cash. This is a great way to encourage the public to recycle right on time with ease.