It's a fairly interesting story of how I came to be involved with this trip to Africa. As background information, the research that I am a part of is an ongoing project that is sub-subcontracted from USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to understand conflict in West Africa. West Africa has been the victim of much violence and conflict in recent years. The movie Blood Diamond depicts conflict in Sierra Leone during the late 1990s. While most of the countries in West Africa are moderately safe, there is always the potential that conflict could erupt (e.g. recent coup in Niger). Therefore, the purpose of the research is to help ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) create a sustainable, replicable early warning system for conflict in the region. I will be part of a team to train local Ivorians on the processes involved with systematic research, surveys, and interviews and also assisting in the collection of said research/interviews. At the conclusion of our trip, I will assist my colleagues in writing a report on our findings with the hopes of creating policy recommendations that could a) help prevent conflict from occurring or b) help ease conflicts once they have begun. My role (at least in Francophone countries) will be to translate the training from English to French and to work with the research teams to conduct interviews. It's funny how my minor in French has opened more doors than any of my other degrees.
In any case, I became involved with the project when my friend and colleague found out that she was pregnant and could no longer safely make the trip to Africa. I informed the project director that I would be happy to make the trip and utilize my French skills. This all occurred between February 16 and February 19 when the trip was sent to begin on March 8. I finally met with the project lead Thursday (February 25) to confirm that I was a competent person and capable of going into the field. After our meeting, I got the green light to head-out with the research team. The project director and I got our tickets Friday--two weeks before we depart for Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. That's just enough time for me to get my immunizations and visa. Well, I'm off to the potentially sketchy walk-in clinic to try to get my 800,000 vaccines. Wish me luck!
