American Physical Society and Ethiopian Physical Society

As you know I follow the poor man’s model. I believe in what I can do personally, on my own to bring change. Think very hard. The last few days I read that Ethiopian professors did a lot by way of motivating students in different universities. They did it on their own. They bring change on their own.

My father says ያገሩን መሬት ባገሩ በሬ (self reliance) – In Asela we say አሚና ሲጋባ የሃብታም ሰውዬ ተዝካር ላይ ነው (Value addition)

Perhaps the older people here know what I am talking about. Any time I go the American Physical Society March Meeting I look for Ethiopians physicists as well as friends in the host town.  We gather for coffee and discuss ways to support our people in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian physics community has been doing this since 1987. We have now a working society called Ethiopian Physical Society (EPS) that collaborates with one of the biggest organizations in the world the American Physical Society (APS). The collaboration worked to a point that Ethiopian physicists in Ethiopia are getting support from the APS,.one Ethiopian physicist won the prestigious Sakarov award. The physics community know about Gondar School of Science and Technology, it also know the Ethiopian Scientific and Academic Network, and Ethiopian Educators Without Borders and the library projects in Ethiopia. I wrote a little article on the APS News (https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201807/international.cfm)

Value addition -አሚና ሲጋባ የሃብታም ሰውዬ ተዝካር ላይ ነው this is the meaning.

Ethiopians participate in huge number of conferences and workshops during the year. This i is good. This is an excellent activity that helps the participants professional growth. But if the conference does not go beyond the individual’s career development,  as far as the community of higher education, the students and the staff are concerned, it means nothing. I have been to many African meetings and most of the time the Africans take the back seat and take notes, in the end they will be given badges and bags, and they go home. This is bad. So They don’t add any value to their experience.

When you go to conferences do the following

1) Gather with your fellow Ethiopians, colleagues and other Africans discuss ways to bring the conference to Africa or to Ethiopia.

2) Remember every conference is attached to big money, there are agencies that want to do business with Africa, you must not be a casual observer, participate in group and panel discussion

3) Remember you are representing Ethiopia by proxy, therefore you must volunteer to chair some of the group discussions.

4) Discuss with your colleagues to organize a session on the issues you are passionate about. For example we did many “PHYSICS IN AFRICA SESSIONS” over the years. You can use the opportunity to further the education agenda in Africa