Finding My Way to Freetown

I decided to travel to Freetown almost instinctively. As my interview with the mayor’s office wrapped up, I felt a rush of excitement mingled with nervousness. I could picture myself in Freetown, but the picture was hazy, marred by thoughts of malaria, safety considerations, and the challenges of moving to a new country. I had an exploding internship offer at a large development organization and the promise of one from the mayor. With less than a day to decide, there was no time for my typical agonizing or lengthy discussions with friends and family. I had to choose fast, and my gut told me Freetown was the way to go.

I sent in the rejection email and prayed to receive an offer letter soon. With very little information on the project, my role, and Freetown, my decision seemed strange even to me. I got many confused looks, questioning my preference for the uncertainty of Freetown to the comfort of a well-defined role. But there was no turning back now.

So how did I end up here? I’ve spent the past month trying to unravel what my gut seemed to know instantly and I’ve boiled it down to 3 reasons.

The first is the project itself. As I researched Freetown and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyyer, I was struck by her determination to revamp the city and improve the lives of Freetonians. Listening to her interviews and reading reports, I could see myself involved with her ambitious #TransformFreetown agenda. What sealed the deal then, was the mayor’s decision to spotlight gender this year by evaluating the impact of existing programs on the lives of women in the city. While bound to be challenging, I am excited by the prospect of disentangling the gendered impacts of Transform Freetown and identifying opportunities for future improvements.

The second is to learn in a messy environment. The project requires adopting a data-driven approach to establish monitoring and evaluation indicators for gender across sectors. This has all the buzz words I was hoping for from my summer internship – it uses data for impact evaluation of gendered programs. While I might be able to design a quantitatively sound methodology to carry this out in an insulated environment, this is highly improbable in a low-income country with scarce resources, limited human capital, and many competing priorities. This summer is an opportunity to learn how to navigate these obstacles while building something useful and implementable, even if not perfect.

And the third, is to challenge myself. Although I grew up in India, I have spent most of my adult life in the US. This summer I wanted to push myself to take risks, move outside my comfort zone, and explore different places. Sierra Leone gives me the chance to do all three, setting the stage for a summer where I hope to learn more about myself while discovering new interests in, what is for me, a new corner of the world.

And so, one spontaneous decision, 4 vaccinations, and a large box of malaria pills later, here I am, ready for my summer in Freetown. The hazy picture is slowly shifting into focus, promising to be one that tells stories of many adventures and insights in Sierra Leone.