The Research begins....

Today we began our first meetings in Goma. It was a dark rainy day and that seemed to set the mood for our day. However, meeting Jocelyn Kelly of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative was definitely one of the most enlightening and rewarding meetings we will ever have. How wonderful to meet a researcher that is open, frank, and truly concerned about her subject matter. Jocelyn is a wealth of knowledge and it is telling that no UN officials here even bother to tap into her experience! Unlike many who work in the "field", Jocelyn is not bitter or angry, but instead hopefully and a real breath of fresh air. Feel free to do a google searh for her and see the fantastic reports she has done on SGBV.

We then ventured through Goma to UNICEF in the afternoon. We met Pontien, a lovely man who was clearly trying to juggle many tasks at once. UNICEF sent a driver, who was very angry that he had not been told that there were three of us and not just one. We realised later the reason he was angry was because the car was so low that having the extra weight made driving on the these crazy roads very difficult. As we wound through the streets of Goma, we saw the continued lack of development, devastation of the conflict on the people, and the remanants of the volcanic eruption still present. People lined the black dirt streets selling what they can and finding a means to survive day in and out.

At UNICEF we were warmly welcomed. We met with Pontien and he explained UNICEF's work with respect to children and armed conflict. While we were talking his phone rang and it was a call to tell him 3 children were being released from prison. He then had to make arrangements to collect the children. Pontien has arranged for us to meet with many of the DDR actors today in a focus group format. He has also agreed to take us to an interim care centre for demobilised children. We had a lot of fruitful discussions about training, sensitization efforts with respect to child protection and working with the community actors.

We were then late for our meeting at MONUC, but managed to get a taxi. We then met with Leopold, of Child Protection. Patrick new Leopold from past training exercises and the relationship was one that assisted our encounter. We spoke for nearly two hours and then agreed to further our discussion on Saturday. This was also a very frank discussion, one that did not bring you that "warm fuzzy feeling" but that is sobering. The main point being that often children are not on the agenda, take any opportunity no matter how short to get it on the agenda, and be prepared to deal with the reality that for many children in a country that has no institutional capacity we need to offer alternatives to joining armed groups if we are to be successful.

Our driver, Jean-Paul - thank you for your kindness!

Tomorrow is another day.

Shelly and Tanya