This week we’re continuing our four-part model video series and premiering our Protection Programs. Accompanying that is our four question blog series which highlights a specific staffer who works on that specific program. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Sean Poole, Protection Program Extraordinaire.
Sean is the Counter-LRA Programs Manager in our International Programs Department. He divides his time between our San Diego office, and working on the ground in Central African Republic (CAR) and DR Congo (DRC). He recently took time out of his adventurous life to fill me in on exactly what he does, how he does it, and what he certainly doesn’t/wouldn’t do.
You travel a lot. What are the four most important things you’re always sure to pack?
1. iPad with Griffin Defender Case: check emails, books, music, TV shows, MLB.TV, taking notes and most importantly playing FIFA.
2. Malaria meds: Because malaria sucks.
3. Starbucks Via’s: Sadly in spots like Congo and CAR, a decent cup of coffee is hard to find even though so much of the world’s great coffee is exported from Congo, Uganda, and neighboring countries in the region. Jay Salbert [IC film editor] taught me how to make coffee in a water bottle by leaving it in the sun for a few hours – really clutch in the middle of nowhere.
4. Thuraya Satellite Phone: Half the places I travel to don’t have cell reception. Being able to pull out a phone and check in with the San Diego or Kampala offices and let my girlfriend know I’m OK is critical.
What four tasks do you do everyday when working in the San Diego office?
1. We have a strong team in SD that manages the information received over the Early Warning Radio Network — each morning we go over any events that came in overnight, translate into English, and I send them out to a listserv of professionals around the world who work on the LRA conflict. It is the primary public source of information regarding LRA activity in the world.
2. I’m constantly working with our Lead Designer Tyler to develop new defection fliers to target LRA groups across central Africa.
3. I work with our Defection Team based out of Kampala to gather new ‘come home’ messages from recent escapees; we pick the best to broadcast over helicopter speakers, short wave and FM radio.
4. Invisible Children is a media-based company, so I work with our Comm and Art teams to develop LRA-related media and content.
What four tasks do you do everyday when working in Congo or CAR?
I get to work closely with our amazing team in Uganda, Congo, and CAR. I work on many of the same tasks that I do in San Diego, but in a more hands-on way. For example, instead of designing fliers, I get to work to identify locations where LRA defection flier drops should happen and then I get to carry them out.
What four other professions would you never, ever want to do?
1. Most of my friends studied Finance/Accounting in college and many of them still work in that field. Long-division is a struggle, I don’t think I would survive.
2. Snake handler.
3. Flight attendant – as much as I travel and fly, I really dread being conscious on a plane.
4. Bureaucrat. The amount of flexibility that we have at IC and the ability to adapt and be innovative is one of the reasons we have been so successful with our programs on the ground. Working in bureaucracies where flexibility and innovation isn’t valued is of no interest to me.
Think people should hear about this?