Warming up for this travel blog in Addis Ababa

Traveling by Ethiopian Air from Brussels to Addis was just a sleepy affair with good food and nice drinks. Arrival was made nice by being collected by a friend we learned to know the last time in Addis. So there we were ready for a start, Bram who mixed his month long holiday in Ethiopia with reconnaissance for spots to work with the Hy2U, Philipp who spent the same last month learning to make the Hy2U and building the RoadShow stand as part of his Maastricht University internship. Me, writing this blog is Reinder, happy to be out with this profi team, that has so much more chance to be successful than the last time in August that I traveled alone from one disappointment to the next one.

But learning, learning a lot about things that do not work. This time learning is written with caps: Leaning is very much the focus on. Just before traveling we visited people at the Maastricht University and got them interested in this theme: Learning. As Bram is apart from technical also an anthropologist and as Philipp studies 'Culture and Technology', they both know what it asks to do interviews and data collecting the right way. Of course learning will relate to what new experiences we ourselves encounter. But the real 'Learning' relates to the Road Show.

A next blog will be on the RoadShow in detail. Just for now: We want to introduce the Hy2U. Imagine that we have not to bother any NGO to help us organize our demonstrations. That we create a pure situation where our project is seen by the people for whom it is meant, without any organizational fuss around it. That our demonstration is presented as a surprise, to forget about it is ok, to experience as fun is ok too. But when our arguments prove to be in tune with what that person expects to be useful for her or him, then we are ready for it. What we hope is to involve them in is our campaign for better health through washing hands.