Saskia is a French-Dutch American powerhouse in our San Diego office. To know her is to admire her: she’s our Central Africa Programs Coordinator, she’s brilliant at what she does, and she just got back from her first trip to Uganda and the conflict region. She’s also allergic to any kind of metaphorical sugar coating, so we were excited to hear about her experiences.

Our programs in Central Africa protect local communities from the violence of the LRA, and are dismantling Kony’s LRA from within. Examples include our “Come Home Messaging” which 81% of escapees cite as the main reason for their decision to escape (using FM radios, helicopter speakers and flier drops), the Early Warning Network (which protects 74 vulnerable communities and provides the information for our Crisis Tracker), Safe Reporting Sites (places for LRA escapees to head to, receive shelter and begin the process of tracing their family) and community education (encouraging communities to see LRA escapees as victims rather than a threat).

Saskia (far right) back in her intern days

SASKIA: YOUR FANCY TITLE AT INVISIBLE CHILDREN IS ‘CENTRAL AFRICA PROGRAMS COORDINATOR.’ WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

I’d say 50% of my time is on the Crisis Tracker and the Early Warning Network. That means getting security information in French everyday, translating it, putting it into the Crisis Tracker, sharing it with our partners on the ground. The other 50% is just general support to the department, like communication and logistics.

YOU’RE SUPER WELL traveled, BUT THIS WAS YOUR FIRST TRIP TO UGANDA AND THE CONFLICT REGION. DID YOU HAVE ANY ANXIETIES SURROUNDING THAT?

Yes, I did. I’d been to Africa before, but Africa is a huge place, it’s very different from country to country. I had anxieties about a few things. One, the security situation, and two, malaria. I was really afraid of getting malaria. But I wanted to go, to face my fears and because you cannot work somewhere, on something like this and refuse to go because you are afraid-that doesn’t make any sense! And it was exciting!

I WROTE HERE, ‘HOW DID YOUR MOM FEEL ABOUT YOU GOING ON THE TRIP?’

(Pregnant pause) Well when I first told my parents they were both saying ‘you’re not going’. And then I had to remind them that I was a grown up adult and I had the capacity to make my own decisions (laughter)…it definitely took some easing them into the idea. We had a lot of conversations…but you know, they’re parents, they’ll, always worry.

THE REGION HAS NOTORIOUSLY CHALLENGING TERRAIN AND POOR INFRASTRUCTURE. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES OF TRAVELLING ROUND THE REGION IN A VERY PRACTICAL SENSE?

Well, you don’t get anywhere without a four by four. The drive from Kampala (Uganda) to Dungu (Democratic Republic of Congo) is extremely bumpy, challenging, hot.  ‘Roads’ are not ‘roads’. When you hear about LRA lootings on the road, I used to wonder, why didn’t they just drive past? Well, because sometimes there’s a big bump in the road, and you cannot! You cannot just accelerate because you’re gonna break your car! So it’s very interesting to see that, and to see how the LRA have exploited some of this terrain for their own purposes.

WHICH OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS WERE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE, AND WHY?

Definitely the HF radio, the Early Warning Radio Network, because that’s most of my job, and I really believe in the power it has. Being [in the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo] I discovered a whole other side of the information, which is people using it! People turning towards us as valuable sources of information about the security in the area- all that was super exciting to see, and to see how valuable we are, and how needed we are. It makes me feel very proud of what we do.They [humanitarian organizations, security organizations, partners in the conflict region] really are valuing our info and they take it really seriously, and if we were not there to do it,it would be a huge gap, that’s for sure.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING IN OBO, CAR, FOR THE RECENT LRA ATTACK? HOW DID THE COMMUNITY RESPOND?

I got to talk to people, got the stories and took pictures and that makes it very real very fast. It’s amazing how resilient the community was. I was getting their testimonies about what happened during the attack. A really shocking incident [turned out to be]…a blessing that no one died. Which, if anything, is more of a reason to do something about it. I feel very grateful that I got the chance to talk to people about the LRA just after an LRA attack happened, and get real life and real time perception. Not that I wanted this attack to happen, but I feel grateful that I was given this task, and that people trusted me with it.

WHAT IMPACT DID YOU SEE INVISIBLE CHILDREN HAVING IN THE CONFLICT REGION?

Wow, that’s a really broad question! I would say that we have a very big information sharing role. Quality information leads to faster action, and more impactful action from every party that can act, such as security forces. The faster they get their information, the faster we can act and the better we can act. It’s not sexy, it’s not defection, it’s not fliers, but…you cannot do anything without information, you know! We could not do defection without information!

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO TAKE TO END THIS CONFLICT?

I like this question! I think it’s going to take faster reaction from groups on the ground to any information we have. And that’s something I’ve been working on really hard on– making sure whatever info we have gets shared literally the next hour, with the partners that need it, so they can act. That is actually crucial, if you consider how fast the LRA can move and…disappear again. It’s literally a matter of hours. If we don’t act in the next hour after the info comes out, you can’t do anything about it,it’s too late: it’s become a statistic. And having extremely highly targeted defection programming, with names, will really help.

SASKIA, I THINK THAT’S ABOUT IT. HAVE YOU GOT ANY PARTING WORDS OR WISDOM OR INSIGHT?

Yes. There’s a person on the ground who, when he saw what Invisible Children has been able to achieve over ten years said, “that’s impossible, you guys can not have done all of this in ten years, that’s just ridiculous!” I guess what I’m saying is that we can be really proud of our accomplishments. Communities have been trained in defection. They will continue doing it.

THANKS SASKIA!

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(Photo credit: Jaide Garcia)