Aikido in the Heart of Africa

In January 2020, Josh Gold, Executive Editor of Aikido Journal, sat down with Richard Strozzi-Heckler Sensei at his ranch in Petaluma, CA to discuss some of his innovative projects.

Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, is founder of Strozzi Institute and has spent over four decades researching, developing, and teaching leadership and somatics to business leaders, executive managers, teams from Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, technology start-ups, non-profits, the U.S. government and military.

Richard is the author of eight books, including In Search of the Warrior Spirit. From 2002 to 2007 he was an advisor to NATO and the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe (SACEUR) General Jim Jones, formally the National Security Advisor. He is the co-founder of the Mideast Aikido Project (MAP), which brings together Palestinians and Israelis through the practice of Aikido.

Richard holds a PhD in Psychology and is a seventh degree black belt in Aikido.

Richard Strozzi-Heckler

Josh Gold (Aikido Journal): Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with the Aikido Journal community. You’ve done so much great work, I wasn’t sure where we should start. Shall we talk about the Ethiopian Aikido project today? Can you tell us the origin story of the initiative?

Richard Strozzi-Heckler: Sure. In 2004, Don Levine, the founder of Aiki Extensions, and I decided we wanted to do a project where we could bring people together whose groups, countries, ethnicities, have been at war for centuries. We wanted to bring these people together to practice the art of Aikido. We wanted to see if this could create what one might call a second track diplomacy. We called this Training Across Borders (TAB) and ran a program in 2005 in Nicosia, Cyprus, and later in Loutrakis, Greece. 

We were together for just over a week with Palestinians and Israelis, Bosnians and Serbs, Greeks and Turks, Jordanians, Americans, and Iraqis — groups that have been engaged in historical, long-term armed struggle with each other. 

“When you take Aikido to a group of young Ethiopians in this century, their history and culture will begin to shape it to make it their own.”

There was one young man in the group from Ethiopia named Tesfaye Tekelu. He and I had an instant connection. I later brought him to California and he lived with me here at the ranch and became an uchi-deshi at Two Rock Dojo. He also went through all of the Strozzi Institute embodied leadership and somatic courses we run for executives and leaders of organizations both profit and non-profit, military and government. Tes is now in the Teacher Training Program at the Strozzi Institute and he teaches public courses. He earned his Aikido Shodan during that time. 

Tesfaye Tekelu with Richard Strozzi-Heckler, receiving his Shihan certification 2020.

After that period of focused training, he went back to Ethiopia and started teaching Aikido there. It ignited the imagination of those young people who are in a country that has had civil unrest for centuries mainly because of ethnic and tribal differences.  And now the youth from different tribes train together, which is a major event because there is so little intermingling between tribes.  Tes has a history of doing social work in Ethiopia and he and his group would go out to the countryside to do their organizing around HIV prevention. After Tes returned, they added an Aikido demonstration. After they added those Aikido demos, these rural gatherings grew from maybe 750 people to 2,000 or 2,500. There was something that the Ethiopians began to see in Aikido that formed an image of a different kind of future or a way of life that opened new vistas for them.

So you connected with Tes in Ethiopia, he became your student, and you trained him in Aikido, you trained him in your embodied leadership programs, and then he returned to Ethiopia and did all these amazing things with the tools and support you gave him. It’s a beautiful real world, modern-day example of the classic Hero’s Journey. That’s got to feel pretty good.

As we develop Aikido in Ethiopia and East Africa, we‘re committed not to lead as the white savior industrial complex, but rather let the Africans lead.  The way Tes has introduced Aikido to the youth of Ethiopia and now Eritrea, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya is quite remarkable. He’s a very gifted and unique leader. He was a very receptive student when I met him and he fully took on the training of Aikido and what it stands for — both the Budo waza, and in the larger context of spirituality and social change. He was able to share Aikido in a way that integrated with the history and traditions of Ethiopia. He came back to Two Rock Dojo some time later for further study, and earned his Nidan before returning to Ethiopia. Now, here we are in 2020 and we have 11 dojos throughout the country. There’s also one in Somalia, there’s one in Zanzibar, a number of dojos in Kenya and Tanzania, and now it’s starting in the Congo.  And now Tes is a Sandan.

Have you been to any of those dojos?

Yes, I’ve been back to Ethiopia twice. The last time I was there, we had the East Aikido Summit. At this landmark event, we invited the elders of the five major tribes to begin a conversation with us about conflict: the Ethiopian approach and the Aiki way. It was the first time in Ethiopian history that those chieftains had been together under the same roof.

So it was Aikido that brought them together?

We used the philosophy and practices of Aikido to design a cultural exchange seminar. The chieftains gathered for an inquiry around the pragmatic philosophy of Aikido and their cultural practices.  We alternated between mat time and discussions.   At this event, Ethiopian youth could ask the chieftains questions and begin a conversation about alternative ways to resolve conflict, create gender equity, education, and health issues. 

“After they added those Aikido demos, these rural gatherings would grow from maybe 750 people to 2,000 or 2,500. There was something that the Ethiopians began to see in Aikido that formed an image of a different kind of future…”

The chieftains sat in on every Aikido class and a few of them tried a few techniques. In Ethiopian culture, their coffee ceremony is very important, so we began the seminar with a coffee ceremony. And the largest, most famous rock and roll band in Ethiopia played at the event.  Those things in themselves were very very memorable. 

We did a demonstration at the American Embassy in Addis Ababa, and because of my work in designing the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) and my work with the Special Forces, which I documented in my book In Search of the Warrior Spirit, it aroused the curiosity of the Marines stationed there as Embassy Guards.  A number of them attended the seminar, trained with the Africans, and attended the festive party. So it was really a unique seminar.

Recently, Aikido of Ethiopia bought a piece of land in Hawassa, the second largest city. We raised money, and now we’re building a dedicated dojo. We built out the first floor and the second floor, and thanks to the support of a generous new donor, we are now able to build a third floor.  We have two Nidans and four Shodans in the group, and we just conducted a 1st kyu test for a Kenyan.  The women yudansha are the first women Shodans in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Ethiopia dojo, under construction.

The Ethiopians who are exposed to Aikido through this initiative live in a war torn area where physical violence has a real presence in their lives.  When they would first see, or start practicing Aikido, did they ever question the cooperative nature of the training? Or the fact that the techniques give your partner a way out instead of taking away their options and finishing them? Did combat effectiveness or any of that stuff come up?

That never came up. From my view, developed from conversations with many Ethiopians, there’s a weariness around the conflict. They’re fatigued with it. They realize they’ve got to do something different. The notion of a rigorous heartfelt cooperation that has standards was particularly appealing to them because they saw that everybody was better because of it. 

“Even in the face of on-going conflict and violence, there’s something within us all that resonates with the notion of interdependence, interconnection, reciprocity, and mutuality. With Aikido principles, conflict can be welcomed because there’s energy in it. There’s something in it that will actually feed both of us.”

Some people will see Aikido training on social media, and make comments like, “Well, this isn’t going to work in a street fight.” Some people have a real need for self-defense or care deeply about combat efficiency and I really respect that, but most of the street efficacy discourse comes from people who live in pretty safe places of the world and are engaging in casual social media banter. But for the people in Ethiopia who have a close relationship to physical violence and a real need to protect against it, are more thinking along the lines of “We’ve had enough of that. We need something different.” It sounds like they don’t want approaches that propagate more violence. I think this is something that people in more fortunate places of the world, like us, should really think about deeply.

We need to deeply study the nature of violence in our culture and the social context being cultivated that creates it. Why are so many are drawn towards violence as a way of dealing with conflict, and how do we create alternatives?

Tesfaye Tekelu

To me, this is a story of creatively manifesting the true power of Aikido, but it’s also a story of leadership development. With Tes, you really forged this young man, who went back to Ethiopia after a period of intensive training, and became a true leader. He took the Aikido philosophy, technical training, and leadership training that you gave him, and adapted it to the Ethiopian culture and environment. He successfully fused a Japanese art with his native culture and used the American spirit of innovation and pioneering to create something really special from that fusion.

It is remarkable. I never had a plan to bringing Aikido or my Leadership Embodiment work to Ethiopia. I had walked with some Maasai elders and hunter gatherers from the tribes of Tanzania for a couple of years and was deeply touched by their way of warriorship. I was moved by Africa but I never thought about launching an initiative there. But there was this connection between Tes and I. We both recognized it and did something with it.

What are your key insights from the Ethiopia project so far? 

Even though it would seem that the Aiki principles, or Aikido, would be contradictory to the history of Ethiopia there is a sincere affirmative response to it. I believe this arguably reflects that there is something deep in the human soul that is commensurate with the pragmatic practices of Aikido. 

Practitioners preparing for the first Aikido dan (black belt) test in Ethiopia.

Even in the face of on-going conflict and violence, there’s something within us all that resonates with the notions of interdependence, interconnection, reciprocity, and mutuality. With Aikido principles, conflict can be welcomed because there’s energy in it. There’s something in it that will actually feed both of us. And there is a longing that wants an interchangeability of roles. I want to attack, I want to receive the attack. I want to speak my mind loudly and take a stand for what I care about –to fight for what I care about. But I also want to be able to listen to somebody who seems totally different to me and embrace their sense of concerns.  Aiki can teach us to be deeper listeners, to serve a purpose greater than our egos and selfish pursuits.  It teaches us that is doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game with winners and losers.  We can experience the possibility of a space beyond a division of the perceiver and the perceived, a place where we can contact the ground of being in our practice.

“All of the young women in our program graduate from high school and are pursuing higher education, just like the young men.  They are also receiving training in leadership and serving as role models to the younger girls starting out at the dojo.” 

I’ve come to believe that we have to move away from Aikido as a thing. It’s not a noun, it’s an organic, emergent, evolutionary process. And when you take it to a group of young Ethiopians in this century, their history and culture will begin to shape it to make it their own. I believe we need to be very receptive and open to that. 

I interviewed the Doshu a few months ago in San Francisco. And one of the things we talked about is Aikido as a Japanese cultural asset. I wanted to know, with Aikido having spread to 140 countries, what are the important elements of Japanese culture must always be present in Aikido? And what are the things that are free to change as it spreads from culture to culture?” 

His perspective seemed to be that the real core of Aikido is its philosophy and principles, and the integrated technical system. I think he believes that as long as those elements are retained, Aikido can express itself differently within different cultures and environments. 

That’s affirming.

Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Tesfaye Tekelu, and Katina Bishop with Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba and Mrs. Ueshiba in San Francisco, September 2019

What kind of results or impact have you seen from the project so far?

We’ve been keeping records since 2005. With 15 years of Aikido history we’ve seen 97% of the students go on to higher education and of the younger students, 100% are currently enrolled in school and keeping good grades. It’s a mandate of their participation in the dojo to attend school, and if their grades fall they are given the help they need to succeed.  Over this time there have been no unintended pregnancies in the youth community.  Many of the youth are trained to be health educators, conducting trainings around the country on HIV awareness, and contraception.  They pass these teachings on to their peers, and live by them.  Over 15 years, there have been no cases of HIV in the dojo community. There are many HIV orphans in Ethiopia and we are proud that the youth in our program are educated about the dangers of the disease and of unprotected sex. 

1/3 of the participants in our program are girls and young women, and the number is growing.  All of the young women in our program graduate from high school and are pursuing higher education, just like the young men.  They are also receiving training in leadership and serving as role models to the younger girls starting out at the dojo.  There’s a drop in female genital mutilation.  Dojos are now being led by some of these female students who started 15 years ago. There is more gender equity and many of the women are moving into leadership roles in the country.

Over 50% of the population of Ethiopia is under the age of 25, and in an environment where civil strife is common, many youth have little opportunity for education, meaningful employment, and a sense of purpose to devote their energy towards.  It is all too easy for them to fall into participating in violence and discord, creating danger for themselves and their families/communities.

The dojo provides not only opportunities and education, but a community that builds the values of discipline, respect, perseverance, vision, teamwork and hope.  This energy is contagious and positively impacts their health and wellness both in the dojo, and out in the rest of their lives.

That’s inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing the story of this project with Aikido Journal. And thank you for creating a profoundly important success story for the art of Aikido. How can we learn more about the project and support the initiative?

  • If you’d like to donate used gi (training uniforms) to the practitioners in Ethiopia, you may send them to: Tesfaye Tekelu, 281 41st Street, Oakland, CA 94611.
  • If you’d like to learn more about the Aikido Ethiopia project or make a tax-deductible donation, you can do so here.

Thank you for your interest and support, Josh.

Josh Gold

Executive Editor of Aikido Journal, CEO of Budo Accelerator, and Chief Instructor of Ikazuchi Dojo.

7 comments

  • I love Richard’s comment ” Its (Aikido) is an organic, emergent, evolutionary process.” How to we irimi, tenkan, pivot and manage the randori of reality. Aikido gives us the practical tools to face life head on.
    Thank you Josh for sharing Richard’s work. He/it has changed my life and the lives of my clients.

  • A beautiful story about bringing the depth of aikido into conflict-ridden areas in Africa…. and then watching the students’ compassionate strength emerge and grow!!! ….. brought tears to my eyes.

    During my 21 years practicing aikido, I’ve spent considerable time reflecting on where aikido comes from and what it offers…. and these reflections tell me that the following Richard Sensei comment is so very important to grasp – “I’ve come to believe that we have to move away from Aikido as a thing. It’s not a noun, it’s an organic, emergent, evolutionary process.”

    Thank you, Richard Strozzi-Heckler Sensei !!!

  • What an inspiring story! Thank you Aikido Journal !! I’ve totally enjoyed my moments on the mat with Tes. So great to know the whole story. You, and he, are a true inspiration for me and the whole Aikido community!!!!

  • Good morning Mr Gold:
    I have been an avid reader of Aikido Journal for many decades. I am a long time student of Patrick Augé Sensei.
    Thank you for your courage and work done for us and the Aikido community.
    I do wonder why you have never interviewed or written about Augé Sensei. He has dedicated his life to the teachings of Mochizuki Sensei. He is one of only a few teachers, faithful to Mochizuki Sensei’s teaching. He continues to evolve and develop Yoseikan Aikido.
    Thank you for your time and dedication
    Joseph

  • Great and interesting discussion! I hope to hear more future discussions on how and where Aikido has made an impact in other countries around the world and changing lives for the better. For example I’d like to read, hear & see more on the Palestinian-Israeli initiative. Keep up the good work!

  • Wonderful article but I must know: did the young woman pass her examination?!

    Lol. Thank you.

  • Thanks for this powerful story Josh. It’s a wonderful example of what can be accomplished, over time, when we care for one another and keep serving.

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