Roger Dickinson - Selah

  In starting this blog, I only realised in talking with my Daughter yesterday, that I had not set out my intentions for it. She asked me why I was doing it and the first thing that came up was: “For my mental health”. Which is a slightly weird thing to say but probably is the truest thing. There are other reasons I am doing this, which I will expand on later in this blog, but keeping myself sane and more or less aligned to my life purpose and goals, seems like a good thing.                                                                        The Thinker statue                                            So, this should probably have been the first blog but maybe now that I’ve actually started it is good to set down some markers.  I have always found writing things down clarifying for the mind and the soul, and maybe this will be an extension of that. I also get and acknowledge the inherent narcissism and self-promotion that comes with thinking that you have  amazing  or  profound  th

  Anyone following my social media profiles or those of our African Spelling Bee partners, will be inundated with posts and videos about our upcoming spelling bees. (If you haven’t - then please do check us out at:   www.africanspellingbee.com   Spelling Bees are an integral part of our programming at A Better Africa Foundation but were never intended to be the primary focus. A concern right from the start of our programmes in 2009 was whether spelling bees actually assisted in literacy improvements or if they were simply a distraction. 14 years later and our spelling bees have now expanded to partnerships across 25 countries with hundreds of thousands of spellers coming through our various competitions each year.                                                           Spellers at the 2019 African Spelling Bee in Uganda The questions still persist though!   The Spelling Bee A spelling bee is a competition in which participants are asked to spell words correctly. It is typically organ

  I often hear (and use) the phrase: "Well its not a silver bullet". This is often said in reference to a quick fix or easy pathway for some complex or difficult problem. In particular I hear it used in regard to the education system in which I spend most of my time. The unspoken belief however, is that   there actually is  a silver bullet to be found. And once we find it all our problems will go away. I wonder now if the metaphor actually gives us more clues to our problem, and a way forward, than we may think? Of Silver Bullets and Werewolves T he term "silver bullet" is often used metaphorically to refer to a simple, straightforward solution that can effectively and quickly solve a complex problem. The phrase originates from the folkloric belief that a silver bullet is the only weapon capable of killing a werewolf, a creature of folklore and myth. The idea is that just as a single silver bullet can eliminate a werewolf, a silver bullet solution can provide an eff