Some successes and challenges of my internship

I would like to begin by saying that the main purpose of my internship is to help Kopernik to reach more beneficiaries by designing an operational evaluation and creating a map of what potential communities Kopernik could expand its project. Our main analysis is based on household surveys, whose results are also verified through our interviews with the Wonder Women and beneficiaries. So far, we have already conducted 242 surveys to women in the areas around Soe and Kefa, in West Timor and this is the first time that Kopernik has ever had a quantitative analysis with this sample size! It is great being able to apply the quantitative tools that I have learned at HKS and to know that these tools will help Kopernik decide on which areas it is appropriate to scale-up the Wonder Women Program based on our data.  

However, the fieldwork and living in a foreign country have had a lot of challenges that I want to share:



Getting to the last mile is complicated. Some of the people that most need biomass cookstoves live in remote communities. One of the things that I liked best about Kopernik is that they work hard to reach these communities. However, the trip to get there could be very long and tiring. Just to give an example, from Bali to Oepuah Selatan, one of the villages that we visited, we had to take two flights, drive more than 12 hours and walk for a while.

Language barriers do not allow me to communicate as freely as I would like. I have to confess that I underestimated the trouble associated with not knowing the language. That complicates even simple things such as ordering food or buying cell phone credit (“pulsa”). In order to collect the information, we had to trained bi-lingual people (bah, actually they were Indonesian that knew some words in English) in every area to help us with the surveys, translated all the questionnaires, etc. Fortunately, one of my team members, Ade, is Indonesian and she has helped me a lot. The most important words that I have learned are “Permisi” (that means “excuse me” and I use it to get into houses) and “Terima kasih” (which means “thank you” and I use it for everything). Finally, smiles are universal and always help to make people come closer.



Culture here is very different. Indonesians are so kind and friendly you feel welcome everywhere. However, their culture is very different to Western culture and familiarizing ourselves with it took us some time. First, 75% of the clothes that I packed are not appropriate for Indonesian standards and I could not wear them at all. They are very conservative and wearing sleeveless t-shirts or skirts above the knee is not appropriate. Second, people get really surprised when I say that I am 26 years old and do not have a partner. They usually ask why and I always take the time to explain that it is a decision and I am happy being single.



The food is good but beware of the spicy options. My favorite dishes and fresh juices are the local Nasi Goreng, chicken satay, and Sirsak. However, the food is much spicier than in Argentina or the U.S. When I just arrived, I ate happily a red thing, thinking that it was pepper but it wasn’t, it was a red chili that made me cry and sweated.