Irene

Limited by my project budget to hiring only one assistant for my interviews—I had originally envisioned a whole entourage of transcribers, translators, and at least 2 interviewers!—I was worried about finding someone who could do the work I had in mind. I knew my Swahili wasn’t good enough to do the interviews I had proposed on my own, but I also didn’t trust that I could find people who could understand the kind of exploratory research I had planned. I have heard nightmares about researchers who hire qualitative interviewers who can’t seem to develop a positive rapport with people, who can’t think on their feet enough to recognize new and interesting topics that come up in interviews and follow new lines of inquiry, and who aren’t sensitive enough when talking about sensitive topics (a category into which sex and pregnancy loss, both topics discussed in my project interviews, fall). My worries were intense enough for me to lose sleep over, and after doing a series of interviews in January to look for possible candidates, I felt discouraged.

Irene came highly recommended, having been the superstar of my friend Anne’s research project, which wrapped up a week before mine started. Given the fact that Anne sang her praises high and low, it is not surprising that there was a bit of a fight for Irene, as well-trained qualitative researchers are hard to come by. Apparently I lucked out, considering that the other job offered a longer-term contract and was based in Dar, which would have meant Irene could have stayed at home with her 22-month-old daughter Lucy, whom she adores, and her husband Paul (whom she adores almost as much as Lucy). The job I offered required Irene to live in tatty guesthouses without running water or electricity, with an mzungu she hardly knew, moving from village to village each week for 5 months. (Very tempting, I know!).

Irene comes from the Haya tribe in northern Tanzania, from an area called Bukoba (famous for its bananas) near Lake Victoria. Her family is devoutly Catholic, and her parents are teachers. Her father values education above almost all else, having told Irene “your first husband is your education. Tend to that first and then you can consider a second husband.” Even though Irene and Paul were in love 4 years ago, her father forbid them from getting married until she finished her bachelor’s degree. It turns out it was Irene’s father and Paul who encouraged her to take the job I offered instead of the job in Dar es Salaam. Hers is a rare instance of women being encouraged to pursue their education and career, and at the rate she is going, she will go far, especially in her dream to study and work in rural community development.

Irene makes up for my inhibitedness with a mix of grace and boldness. The woman gets things done! In the first village where we stayed, the only food option at night was chipsi kuku (fried chicken and french fries). I told her I thought I would die if I ate french fries every day for a week, and she immediately scouted out several places that serve food at lunchtime and asked them if they would stay open late for a special contract. She then drafted an order for complete meals for a week – including lots of vegetables and specifying details as minor as the kind of fruit we would have for dessert and the kind of tea that would be served – and then bargained the price they offered down to an incredible deal, all with a smile on her face. She has a cheerful, gentle spirit, but underneath her jovial exterior, she’s also a hard-driving businesswoman and problem-solver.

I had originally planned to do 1 or 2 two-hour interviews per day, planning for long walks between interviewees’ houses and trying to set aside enough time each day to debrief together about how the interview went and what was learned. But Irene has turned out to be a powerhouse – we routinely do 3 interviews, and sometimes 4, including at least an hour and a half per day per interview to discuss the findings from the interview. But she is equally concerned about interview quality, and devours books I have brought on interviewing techniques and data analysis, and is very receptive to advice and training to improve each interview. Because of Irene (sometimes I feel I am just sitting there, understanding about 40% of each interview while I jot some fieldnotes), we are ahead of schedule, and can probably wrap up this phase of data collection 2-3 weeks early. The reward for both of us is a chance to return to Dar early, her to see her family, and me to see my friends and colleagues. We have our fingers crossed…

The picture at the top is Irene on her first airplane ride in her entire life – she watched out the window the whole trip from Dar to Mtwara and marveled at how the whole world looked flattened into a map of geographical features that she had learned in school, and her eyes grew wide as the plane shook when we flew through clouds.