New home

Phnom Penh from our private boat tour

Time passes quickly… like always when having fun. So, with the interviews done and over two months passed, my return back to Sweden is approaching. And I don’t feel ready. Living here for just a while  really makes one see new perspectives of things, like always when travelling. If you haven’t been travelling away for longer trip – just do it. Even when feeling the most lost or culturally shocked it makes you appreciate life and respecting other cultures. Being in a development country and researching on such a sensitive topic like politics (which should not be a sensitive topic) makes me so grateful for all the freedoms back home that we just take for granted. Don’t take it for granted! Especially with the political climate in Europe that to some extent is shifting towards closed borders and scepticism against people with different backgrounds and the current political system – a system that is so great comparing to how it could have been!

 

On a night out with my Cambodian friends

But being here also offers tolerance and patience – for example in traffic. There is no point even trying to get rushed, instead I just look out the tuktuk and admiring the views or curiously glance at people in their everyday life which is so different to what I’d see back home. At the same time it is not too different. People are still people, trying to make a living and appreciating life sipping frozen cocktails from shotglasses on an outdoor bar in 32 degrees heat. At this bar we got to meet some locals too, the nicest people who kept on buying us snacks, such as different fruits we’d never tried before while discussing the Chinese investments of the country. I have also met two other cambodians, laughing at my rules of playing pool and showing me how it’s really done. These two sisters that I’ll definately miss when going back.

With the thesis submitted earlier than planned I went out to the island Koh Rong Sanloem for some vacation before going back home to defend my thesis. Right now I am stuck in Sihanoukville, a town that has horribly changed within the past few years to Chinese construction work. Hopefully time will pass quickly with a coffe and a book in hand.

M’pai Bay – Koh Rong Sanloem

Tomorrow I’m flying home to Sweden, back to reality with cold weather and shy people. I am so looking forward to seeing all my friends and family and clean streets though!

Partir, c’est mourir un peu.

(To leave is to die a little)

Good morning from a chilly airport in Brussels,

Yesterday was the day, I left Ghana. It was still impossible for me to believe, somehow it still hasn’t really hit me. Except for the sadness, and already missing soo much.

A funny thing happened though since I had been thinking about extending my stay, it turned out that I had overstayed my VISA! I almost had a heart attack when the people at immigration said I had overstayed my VISA, and that it was a very very serious offense and that I would get a penalty! Somehow I had thought I had a 3 months VISA automatically when entering Ghana, did not even check the stamp when I arrived, where they had written 60 days… After being taken into an office at the airport to a very angry woman, she said I would have to pay a fine. Again, heart attack because now I thought okay if I’m not getting arrested or something crazy like that – at least this fine is going to be HUGE. Haha, nope. 80 Ghanaian cedis, which is about 145 SEK. I wanted to laugh, but it was not the moment. I was still scared too, so I was already almost crying. But the lady warmed up, we talked about nice things with Ghana and I was good to go! So a suggestion from me, check your stamp at arrival haha!

Anyways, the week has been hectic. I had 3 interviews, all insanely interesting and helpful! I still can’t believe all the amazing people I have met during my time in Ghana. So many people fighting for human rights, and children’s rights, it gives me hope for the future.

But like I mentioned, I feel very sad and empty right now. I feel like I have left a piece of my heart in Ghana. The food, the people, the music, the weather, the city, the traffic, the languages – yeah you get it. I could go on forever. It has been so different from Sweden, it has forced me out of my comfort zone sooo many times. More times than I thought I was ready for even, but here I am, so grateful and proud of my experience in Ghana. It has been lifechanging honestly, and has brought back some light in my life that I have been missing for a long time.

My last thought goes to all the amazing friends I have had the opportunity to meet and spend my 9 weeks with. They truly are some amazing people, they are what I will miss the most. You all know who you are.

Medaase.

En sista hälsning från mig i Mauritius

Så har mina åtta veckor gått, jag åker hem ikväll. Det har varit en fantastisk upplevelse och jag är så tacksam för att jag har fått denna möjlighet. Med facit i hand känner jag mig nöjd med mitt fältarbete, jag har fått alla de intervjuer som jag ville ha och lite till och har fått kontakter med myndigheter och människor som jag kan vända mig till ifall jag behöver något ytterligare. Så nu återstår “bara” att färdigställa uppsatsen 🙂

Det är väl på sin plats att sammanfatta mina upplevelser här och det tänker jag göra genom två listor. Den första listan beskriver alla saker som jag kommer att sakna när jag lämnar Mauritius och den andra listan alla saker som jag har lärt mig eller tar med mig från denna erfarenhet.

Jag kommer att sakna:

Min härliga extra-familj som jag har fått här. Vilket mottagande jag fick, så mycket hjälp och stöd jag har fått och så många skratt de har gett mig.

Vädret. Alltid varmt, nästan alltid sol. Även om det tog ett tag att vänja sig…

Maten. Alla härliga smaker, färger, dofter. En blandning av så många olika kulturer och traditioner. Blandning av så många smaker: sött och starkt och salt och surt på samma gång. Kreol influerat av kinesiskt, indiskt influerat av afrikanskt. Chili och curry och saffran…

De otroligt vänliga, öppna människorna som börjar prata med en helt spontant, på gatan på bussen eller var som helst. Generösa och hjälpsamma samtidigt som alla tycks visa stor respekt för alla.

Naturen med de sagolika stränderna, palmerna och de alltid närvarande bergen. Grönska mitt i det turkosa vattnet. Och mina söta fladdermöss på min terrass.

Jag tar med mig från Mauritius, förutom ett rikt material till min uppsats:

Nya vänner och kontakter. Så många trevliga och intressanta möten med olika kulturer. Så många intressanta idéer och syn på livets stora och små frågor.

En insikt om att i vissa lägen fungerar inte den svenska försiktiga mentaliteten. Vill man få något uträttat här ska man helt enkelt gå dit och knacka på dörren. Kan vara ett intressant experiment att göra det hemma 🙂

Min solbränna… (trots solfaktor 50)

Som du säker förstår skriver jag detta inlägg med lite vemod samtidigt som jag verkligen ser fram emot att komma hem. Ibland har det varit tufft här, både fysiskt och mentalt, men de positiva minnena överväger helt klart och sammantaget har det varit en väldigt fin upplevelse. Jag hoppas verkligen att få komma tillbaka en dag…

Over and out.

Analysen, la salsita och ett volontäruppdrag!

Hola amigos!
Jag och Malin har pratat en del om möjligheten vi har fått genom MFS. Det är genom MFS stipendium som vi har kunnat träffa alla organisationer och få höra om allas personliga historier, samt att få upptäcka Colombia. De vännerna och kontakterna vi har fått är tack vare MFS stipendium och det kommer vi alltid vara tacksamma för.
De sista veckorna närmar sig sin slut och det som står kvar är – analys delen. Genom att vi har börjat skriva vår analys, har vi upptäckt nya dimensioner, tankar och teman inom intervjuer…Det är som att se insamlad data från en annan vinkel…

Under tiden vi inte skriver, vilket är kvällstimmar, så lagar vi en del mat och bakar och bjuder människor att få smaka på olika, svenska specialiteter. Vi har också haft chans att utföra några dagsutflykter i djungel, samt att dansa salsa som aldrig slutar spelas på radio eller gatorna. Innan vi anlände till Cali, hade vi inte ens aning att det är så mycket salsa här runt omkring.
Under tiden vi skriver vår uppsats och tränar lite salsa, har vi också hunnit att bidra med vår engelska kunskaper. Jag och Malin har fått uppdrag att lära ut grundskolebarn – engelska. Det har känts meningsfullt att kombinera skrivandet, med ett volontäruppdrag.
Ta hand om er och vi hörs:)))

4 weeks left: Challenges and positive outcomes!

Now, I must say that the sunshine really peaks out from some earlier thick clouds.

Last week, I was suppose to get a new stamp in my passport. At the airport in Nairobi when I first arrived, the man that checks the e-Visa and passport only wrote 1 month/holiday next to the stamp and said that after one month I needed to get another one. Something that I haven’t yet understood why that is needed, as the e-Visa holds for 3 months and there is no information about this one-month-stamp in any official websites (only personal stories etc). However, I did what he said, of course. Easier said than done.

So, went to the immigration service office in Kisumu. When I came to the desk, I got interrogated like I was in a Miami Vice episode. The man asked me for 15.000 shilling (around 1.500 sek) and claimed that I had the wrong visa. I was sure this was not the case, but whatever I told him, he got more and more angry and said that I claimed that he didn’t know his job.

Anyhow, after some calls to the embassy, and some other people that I needed to consult this with (as I did not know what the consequences this man could give me), I left and hope to renew the stamp this week instead.

So a tip for anyone in the same position: Go with a man if you need to go to a local office if you feel you need support (as this I heard was one of the problems).

Yes, there can be challenges in these scenarios, or it will go smooth, as I’ve heard others just going in to the office and got a stamp without questions asked.

Anyhow – let’s leave this behind for now. I have been talking to friendly strangers around the community, randomly when taking a short walk around my house. Things comes together of why I am here, and in regards to the community-based organization’s influence in Wagwe. To meet these people and to hear their point of views of various things such as corruption or sustainable development brings me back on my track and the goal of my visit.

On Thursday, I just got noticed that I will also meet a women’s CBO group that works together to encourage and support all from helping orphans to older women, or other “everyday issues” that challanges the lives here.

Am very grateful for being here and to get these stories out.

All the best, Isabelle

Less than a week left, and finally got the dream interview!

Sunday afternoon and I’m writing this only having less than a week left here in Ghana. This past week I’ve really been debating with myself whether or not I should stay a few more weeks here, at least till my VISA expires 3 weeks after my departure date… A big part of me really likes it here, and it already feels like a sort of home. On top of that, I’m not too excited to go back to Sweden at the moment. But a part of me also feels ready to go home, mainly to be able to see friends and family. This last week I’ve just felt really lonely. Also I really really cannot wait to get back to Sweden and all the Swedish food! I’m honestly writing a list on my phone of things I’m gonna eat when I come back, no joke.

The main reason why I feel ready to go home is because I have now scheduled another 3 interviews this coming week, and I feel like the material I have now is what I wanted from the beginning, and good enough. One of these interviews is with the chief of child protection at UNICEF! I couldn’t believe it when I got the answer from him, I cried haha. They were always on top of my list of organizations I wanted to interview. Everyone kept telling me they were a looong shot and it would be quite impossible to get an interview there. Well, if you really really want something fight for it and it will work out one way or the other.

Now I’m heading to the Accra Mall, to sit down at the coffee shop and drink plenty of my favorite coconut icepresso and study! That place has really been a comfy place where I have spent many days studying, drinking coffee, meeting new people, and, buying my new phone, I will miss it!

Time to fly back to Sweden

After two months in Ukraine, I am getting ready to travel back home to Sweden. Meanwhile, I have been transcribing some of the interviews that I have conducted in Odessa and Donetsk. I have conducted very important interviews with some key research participants during my journey to the Donetsk region. This allows me to answer my research questions by having more reliability in the gathered material. I have met volunteer fighters at the frontline from such battalions as Dnipro 1, Aydar and the Right Sector. I stayed some time with these fighters and made a participant observation. This enabled me to better understand how my research participants interpret the world around them, and also how they act in the real life setting. The field notes that I made during my participant observation help me to understand the everyday experience of these fighters both during combat and among their comrades in general.

Transcribing the interviews and writing my thesis
Together with a fighter from the Dnipro 1 battalion

One thing that I noticed during my trip to Donbass was the sharp division of the population living there. People are divided into two campaigns. Pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian attitudes are eminent whether an issue concerns the language, religion, political or historical standpoints. In some cities of the Donetsk region there is a straightforward de-Sovietization, which can be observed by the removal of Soviet monuments and other symbolic items. This process of Ukrainization has achieved the removal of Lenin’s monuments and the abandonment of symbolic items that spread separatism and violence.

Lenin’s monument is removed in the town of Krasnoqorivka in the Donetsk region
Lenin’s monument is removed in the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region

All in all, my field study in Ukraine was very interesting, exciting and productive. I have met new people and made contacts that can be crucial in the upcoming master or even doctoral field studies. Most importantly, I have filled an essential research gap that existed in academia. Previous research within the social science describe the motivations of the Ukrainian volunteer fighters in ambiguous and simplistic ways. Despite some minor similarities, my results promise to reveal different motivations of volunteer fighters. The attractiveness of the battlezone for these fighters will also differ from the conclusions of the recent studies in this area.

The view of the nature resembles the blue yellow Ukrainian flag

Farewell Ukraine!

 

Rapport från en avlägsen ö mitt i Indiska Oceanen

Jag är så otroligt glad att jag fick chansen att besöka ön Rodrigues och fick inblick i en värld som är så långt borta från vår, inte bara avståndsmässigt utan främst mentalt…

Mauritius är en liten och något isolerad ö men den lilla ön Rodrigues är verkligen långt borta ensam mitt i havet. Den ligger 600 km österut i Indiska Oceanen och hör till landet Mauritius, men har ett självstyre. Befolkningen kallar sig för “rodrigueser” och är till största delen av afrikanskt ursprung, ättlingar till afrikanska slavar (inte som på ön Mauritius, där de flesta är av indiskt ursprung). Detta är något som de själva betonar och menar att deras ö är något helt annat än Mauritius. Och detta är till viss del sant. Rodrigues är bara ca 100 km2 till ytan och naturen är mycket mer orörd än på Mauritius. Det bor ungefär 42000 människor på ön som i huvudsak arbetar med fiske, lantbruk, service och mer och mer med turism. Samtidigt är Rodrigues beroende av Mauritius, väldigt mycket nödvändigheter måste skeppas dit, och man har inte heller någon önskan om självständighet. Traditionerna är mycket mer levande där, vilket rodrigueserna är väldigt stolta över. Och maten är ganska mycket annorlunda. Mycket mer fisk (såklart), med paradrätter gjorda på bläckfisk och massor av chili. Ön är också känd för sin honung, som smakar fantastiskt gott. Människorna är hjälpsamma och väldigt vänliga. Blev mottagen som en i familjen där jag hyrde rum och fick till och med följa med hem på middag hos en av deras vänner.

Rodrigues är känt för sina vackra stränder och sitt turkosblå vatten, och de är helt klart bland de vackraste i världen. Men ön har också fina vandringsleder uppe i bergen, med utsikt över havet på båda norr och söder ibland. Och avstånden är så små så att man i princip kan promenera överallt. Allmänt, allting är litet på Rodrigues, verkligen nästan “gulligt”. I de charmiga små byarna och även i huvudstaden, känner människorna varandra. Det råder någon sorts hemmakänsla överallt, en avslappnad inställning med lite lugnare tempo och mer tid och hänsyn till varandra. Nu är det kanske inte så att man har vägarna förbi direkt, men Rodrigues är helt klart värt ett besök!

Men nu är jag tillbaka på arbetet igen! Har bara en vecka kvar (???) vilket känns ofattbart. Jag har lyckats boka in de sista två intervjuerna som jag verkligen önskade få, en på antikorruptionsmyndigheten och en med chefen för Transparency International. Så jag börjar se slutet på mitt äventyr här och kan säga att jag är väldigt nöjd med materialet som jag samlade in.

Jag vet, en vecka är lång tid, men mentalt har jag nog börjat förbereda mig för hemfärd. Därmed har jag börjat fundera på allt och alla som jag kommer att sakna här. Men det är verkligen temat för ett sista inlägg, som kommer inom kort.

Några bilder från den vackra ön Rodrigues. De första bilderna är från Port Mathurin, huvudstaden. På den sista bilden är det Natacha, min värdinna och jag.

Interview week

Although starting off in Cambodia with two “vacations” straight away, I have had a week now full of interviews, 6 of them actually. These have been so interesting and really an insight in what it is like to be a woman under the political circumstances in Cambodia. I wish I could share it in more details, but I guess you would have to read the thesis when it’s done! Finally I’m finished with interviews, after struggling with cancelled ones from people being too scared to talk.

Besides interviews, me, the other swedish student and Hanna from RWI went to the Swedish embassy to vote in the European election. After that we got a private tour of the embassy, which was situated on the 10th floor in a business tower and offered quite a nice view.

When I’m not writing on my thesis or doing research I am trying out all the different kinds of asian food, cambodian desserts and fresh fruit drinks that Phnom Penh offers! I also ride a lot of tuktuks, explore different neighborhoods in Phnom Penh and gotten to know some locals and expats. With less than 3 weeks to go, I better continue with my writing and discover more of the city!

3 weeks: Dancing in the rain and interesting interviews

Amoso! Don’t know exactly how it is spelled  but it means “hi how are you?” in the local language, Luo, here in Western Kenya.

That is something I say to people maybe 20 times a day here if I am outside the house area, or if people come to visit. Which is something that is normal here (compared to Sweden). Everyone knows one’s neighbour and you are welcome to pass by for a tea or just some chatting.

Still not everyone has met me here, but when I start by saying some greetings in Luo, and actually can have a 2-3 sentence talking with a local, they get surprised and happy – especially the elders.

Most greet with the right hand and says “Amosi, nango? De ma ber.” Meaning, “Hi how are you, I am good”. Others, some more religious elders, greet by clapping their hands three times. I’ve started doing that too, even before them, which makes them laugh. It creates this respect between me as a visitor and the locals.

My previous posts have been somewhat more about the Challanges I’ve struggled with. And a couple of days ago, I was close to be going home because of a situation at home. It was also very tempting for the reasons of the “freedom” and other virtues you are used to at home.

However, I chose to stay. And now, things have just been going up! I chose to look at the bright side for being here and to be thankful for this once in a lifetime experience. For instance, I danced in heavy rain last Saturday with people from the village. Children was jumping up and down and people happy to see “the visitor” taking part from some traditional activities. A woman came up to me, and I first thought it was like a “dance battle”. She wanted to show me some moves – and me to copy it. I have got used with people looking at me, so dancing wet in the rain and making some new moves, was only but pure joy.

I’ve done some interviews also, of course. It makes you feel you are on the right track, when people telling you that they are grateful for you being here and that it is an important study. I can clearly see that the community-based organisation is making many positive changes and development in the village. Something that the informants are confirming themselves.

I continue to go to school and serve lunch to the wonderful children here. It is one of the best parts of my week. And also, the washing on Sundays that is close to a lake with beautiful surroundings with animals walking free.

 

A lecture about environment
The feeling after dancing in the rain to the drums!