I remember sitting in a humid office in Goma, staring at a glossy document that claimed a multi-million dollar emergency response was “underway.” The paper …
Reading a Sitrep Critically
What Satellite Images Can and Cannot Prove
I spent a decade watching NGOs pour millions into high-resolution data suites, convinced that seeing a pixelated village from space was the same as helping …
What Enforcing a No Fly Zone Means
I remember sitting in a humid, corrugated metal office in Goma, staring at a satellite feed that promised “security” while the radio crackled with reports …
The Promise and Limits of a Corridor
I remember sitting in a humid, makeshift office in Goma, staring at a map that looked more like a work of fiction than a logistics …
Subsidies in One Country, Prices in Another
I remember sitting in a dusty warehouse outside Lilongwe, staring at a mountain of imported maize that had just arrived at a price lower than …
Geolocating a Video Frame
I spent nine years watching people in the NGO sector pour millions into “awareness campaigns” that looked beautiful on a screen but never actually moved …
Checking Where a Photograph Came From
I remember sitting in a humid, makeshift office in Goma, staring at a printed photo of a collapsed bridge that was supposed to be our …
Trials in Development and Their Limits
I remember sitting in a humid corrugated shed outside Goma, staring at a stack of pristine, peer-reviewed papers that claimed a new malaria intervention was …
Tariffs That Undo Aid
I once spent three days idling a refrigerated truck outside a border crossing in South Sudan, watching ten tons of temperature-sensitive vaccines slowly expire because …
Diversion and the Controls Against It
I spent nine years staring at dusty manifests in South Sudan and the DRC, and if there is one thing I learned, it is that …