World Community Development Conference 2019 — Dundee, Scotland
In June 2019, IACD held the World Community Development Conference in Dundee, Scotland. We had nearly 500 delegates from 34 different countries in attendance for an eight-day conference that explored the theme of People, Place, and Power via workshops, presentations, posters, unconference sessions, and practice exchanges.
Following the conference, IACD put out a call to delegates asking them to tell us about the connections they made in Dundee. We will be publishing responses here and in our monthly newsletter.
From Texas to Ethiopia — Patricia Wilson and Asaminew Kassa
Patricia Wilson and Asaminew Kassa both attended WCDC2019. Here’s what Patrica had to say about their connection:
I knew I would be ‘on stage’ giving a couple of presentations but I didn’t know I would be ‘on stage ‘ performing a dance. Here’s how it happened: It was the first day of the WCDC conference in Dundee. I was feeling quite overwhelmed by all the people there in the lobby of the conference site at the University. Hundreds of people brushing shoulders, some greeting old friends and colleagues. I said to myself, Be brave, Patricia. Dive in. Start somewhere. I caught the word Ethiopia on one gentleman’s name tag, took a breath, said hello, and introduced myself. Asaminew was the first person I met at the conference. We had a brief but cordial connection. He learned that my partner and i would be going to Addis Ababa in July, and offered to show us around. It was really too noisy to talk much, so we exchanged emails. I didn’t run into Asaminew again during the conference, and wondered whether he would remember me. Neither did I know at the time that my brief flurry on the dance floor to Scottish music with a young man in kilts on the last evening of the conference was simply a warm up. (See picture)
I emailed Asaminew on the day we arrived and got an instantaneous reply: I’m sorry, but I am on vacation until the end of July. Darn!
Addis Ababa is not the kind of place a foreigner wants to negotiate on her own. We were beginning to feel a bit land locked in a five star conference hotel bordered by shack dwellings. But just then a personal note arrived and Asaminew reiterated his kind invitation.
He came the next morning and took my partner to the museums and parks and churches she was hoping to see, while I attended the World Health Organization meetings that had brought me there.
During a break from the WHO meetings the next afternoon, Asaminew took us both through the snarled traffic up the mountain out of the polluted city past the eucalyptus groves, to a peaceful cultural and civic memorial overlooking the whole valley. We slowed down, just breathing it all in.For our last night, Asaminew wanted to treat us to something special—a surprise. Meet me in the lobby at 6, he said. One of the WHO attendees, Hans, was with us when he arrived and Asaminew invited him to come too. First coffee tasting at the most prestigious Ethiopian coffee showroom, then a restaurant—the best traditional Ethiopian food in Addis, with a live band and folkloric dancers on the stage. Between handfuls of food and sips of I’m not sure what (but it was tasty) we had a marvelous time. (See picture).
Then the band invited the audience to come on stage and dance. By the time Asaminew and I got to the stage the first song had ended, everyone had gone back to their seats, and we found ourselves providing a solo floorshow for the audience, which Hans handily videoed! (See picture).
What I’m left with is the sweet residue that a warm and sociable conference like WCDC leaves. Asaminew is just one of our new friends. A smile breaks out on my face when I remember all the warm hearted, dedicated people I met at the conference and picture them doing their work—in England, Scotland, Ethiopia, or wherever. And I was delighted to find out that Asaminew, who works for ChildFund International, is planning to come to graduate school in the U.S.
Patricia A. WilsonUniversity of Texas
Austin, TexasI invite you to check out my newest book, The Heart of Community Engagement: Practitioner Stories from Across the Globe (Routledge, 2019), by clicking here.
