My grandmother never really understood my job. I'd explain it to her over and over again but a perplexed look would still come over her face. Nonetheless, she'd brightly exclaim encouraging somethings like, Well that certainly sounds useful! But I could tell she never got it.
I once met a woman at a cocktail party. She told me she was in Morocco on a research assignment. I pressed her for more details and she gave me the look of someone who had been avoiding questions. Then she answered that she was studying mule sperm {!}. Frankly, I think my grandmother would have been satisfied with that answer:-)
I'm currently working in Mali on a civic education project funded by USAID; the project touches over a million people. We partner with community radio hosts and traditional communicators (professional story tellers and messengers) to promote messages of peace, tolerance, women's participation and good citizenship.
Here is a glimpse of some of my partners and project beneficiaries.
Have you ever been to Mali? To Africa? Would you want to go?