A JOCV’s One Ball Project in Ethiopia

Congratulations on 50th anniversary for dispatching JOCV in Ethiopia! My name is Masaya Kasyu and it has been about 10 years since I worked in Ethiopia. I feel a strong connection of human relationship and culture which I really envy, and I wish that would continue even now.

I was dispatched as a physical education teacher in a primary school in Addis Ababa. I found the assignment challenging the entire time I was there since I often myself lacking the necessary materials and facilities to implement the physical education classes.

Under such circumstances, I realized that adequate materials and facilities are essential to provide opportunities for children to become absorbed in sports and learn lots of things through sports. This drove me to plan an activity called the “ONE BALL Project”. We took one ball with us everywhere we went in Ethiopia and carried out educational activities by playing soccer. The main purpose of this project was to convey the pleasure and educational significance of sports to the local people.

At the beginning of this project, we were struggling a lot because we could not find local people who would cooperate with our activities. However, as we kept going with the project and eventually a few people began understanding what we were trying to do, and they were willing to join our project. From that point, the project began going dramatically well. Local sport officials and people from community contributed to its development. The local people who sympathized with JOCV activities spread the significance of the project in the local language. As a result, we were able to implement the project with over 500 children and over 100 sports officials.

Consequently, this project created a good connection between people in the community. Whenever we conducted a soccer tournament people gathered to support the children, to make the program run smoothly, and to assist the educational activities of the children. Ethiopia has a great ‘people-to-people’ connection.

What COVID 19 showed me is that the ‘people-to-people’ connection has been heavily affected in the world today. I really envy that in Ethiopia there is still a strong ‘people-to-people’ connection and people have a kind heart towards others which I feel like is being lost in developed countries. Personally, I wish for human beings to retain their good hearts, as it was in the beginning.

It has been 50 years since JOCVs were first dispatched to Ethiopia. I hope that people will continue to connect with each other, and I wish for the new generation to have the same happiness and emotions as their predecessors.