Local anthropologist to speak next week
Evening Rotary program open to all online
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Last updated 11/10/2020 at 9:03am
Robert Moïse gets a photo taken with a shoe repairman by the same name in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Getting the local perspective in critical, says Moïse, of Coulee Dam, who will speak in a publicly accessible Zoom meeting next week. - photo courtesy of Robert Moïse.
When Robert Moïse was sent home from work last March as the federal government responded to the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic, he had a long way to go to his east Coulee Dam home. He was in Africa at the time.
Moïse, a consulting anthropologist, has spent a lot of time there, and he's been tapped to share his insights, derived from a career of helping big organizations trying to do good in small communities, in an upcoming Rotary meeting open to the public via Zoom.
Moïse will be the guest speaker at the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club's Zoom meeting Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 5:15 p.m.
Last March, he'd been on a research project in Africa, where he was evaluating government-funded conservation projects for USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and their impact on local peoples, with an eye to transforming them into win-win situations for both wildlife and local communities.
Moïse works on conservation and development projects in rural communities as a "cultural translator," has been working in the region since 1984.
A Twa Pygmy woman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo carries a burning ember on her way into the forest.
These days, home base is Coulee Dam, but travel and meeting with people on their home turf is critical to the work. The novel coronavirus has put kink into that, but he's got three other projects in the works right now.
He'll be talking with the Rotary club about why, from his experience, it's critical to understand the local point of view before imposing solutions to problems that may not be understood well by those trying to help. He advocates "bottom-up approaches" instead of "top-down."
Everyone who attends the Rotary event will be included in a drawing to receive a "beautiful Ugandan basket," the club says.
You can join the meeting from your phone or computer. If you don't have a Zoom app, just search in google for "join zoom meeting" and follow the prompts.
In the Zoom app, the meeting ID is 634 721 3292; the passcode: Rotary.
If you want to call in, call (1) 253-215-8782 and use this Meeting ID: 634 721 3292 and
Passcode: 116522.
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