I once spent three days in a humid transit hub outside Goma, staring at a stack of signed waybills that looked perfect on paper while …
Verifying Without Being There
Negotiating Access Convoy by Convoy
I spent a decade watching people in Geneva and New York draft fifty-page frameworks on diplomacy, convinced that high-level summits were the key to getting …
Tied Aid and Its Cost
I remember sitting in a humid warehouse outside Goma, staring at a stack of high-calorie biscuits that were technically “donated” but were practically useless because …
What Happens When a Budget Is Cut Mid Year
I remember sitting in a humid warehouse outside Goma, staring at a stack of signed manifests for three dozen trucks that were never going to …
Bylines and Who Gets One
I spent nine years watching NGOs pour millions into “capacity building” workshops that did nothing but burn through donor funds while the actual people on …
Ceasefire, Truce and Cessation Explained
I remember sitting in a dusty compound outside Goma, listening to the crackle of a shortwave radio while a UN official read a press release …
Neutrality When Both Sides Object
I spent nine years in East and Central Africa watching people mistake a well-worded mission statement for actual progress. You’ll see glossy annual reports filled …
Belonging to No Country
I remember standing at a checkpoint outside Goma in 2014, watching a driver try to explain why his cargo of temperature-sensitive vaccines was sitting in …
Displaced Without Crossing a Border
I spent most of my years in East Africa watching people try to define humanitarian crises with academic jargon and sweeping statistics, but none of …
Proving a Project Caused the Change
I spent a decade in the DRC watching people in air-conditioned offices in Geneva debate the nuances of how impact is evaluated, using metrics that …