UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Today is my last day as a HOPE Anti-Trafficking Intern with the International Rescue Committee. This month has been a truly amazing experience. I met a myriad of amazing refugee resettlement caseworkers, individuals who are working to alleviate human trafficking, and a handful of interns and volunteers who are dedicated to the cause. I have spent over 160 hours working with the HOPE Anti-Trafficking Program this month. My experiences included interacting with clients through home visits, appointments, and trips to the local food bank. I feel as if I have developed a personal relationship with the clients. Throughout all of the car rides and other appointments, I got to understand the clients’ struggles and learn more about their lives. It is truly a humbling experience to be let into another’s life and to have them open up to you. As I am getting ready to transition out of my role with the HOPE Program, I also had the opportunity to train a new intern coming into the HOPE Program...

It is officially my second week at my fellowship. I have been added into the computer system, have gone through all of the training, and have finally started getting comfortable with the material on trafficking. There is a lot of information to grasp and I am happy that my supervisor has been patient with me as I absorb everything. A lot of what I am doing for my fellowship involves programmatic assistance. A few of the projects that I have been assigned to complete include graphic designing and database management. Our department, as a part of the Greater Sacramento Area Partnership against Trafficking, is working to organize a trafficking outreach event for the Sacramento area. The partners that we are working with are all on the same page about bringing more awareness to the signs of trafficking and providing resources to the community on identifying and helping victims. Regarding this event, I have started making a flyer that can be distributed around the community. I have bee...

Quibdó, Chocó region, Colombia Chocó is a unique region in Colombia. It brings together a particular combination of features: it is the most socio-economically marginalized region, in part because of its physical isolation from the rest of the country. Further, it is one of the wettest places on earth which hampers economic activity. It became a refuge for the Afro-Colombians, displaced by the arrival of armed groups in the 1990s. This ethnic group makes up 80-85% of the population and did not traditionally have access to financial resources. They found safety here in Choco, but have since had to adapt to difficult conditions enduring years of neglect by the central government. As you may imagine, each of these factors individually are very complicated and difficult to solve. However, when considered together, it is clear that the resulting challenges will require highly integrative approaches to come up with sustainable solutions to improve the wellbeing of the communities. ...

With fall quarter at UC Davis in full swing, this Blum Fellowship to the Republic of Georgia already seems far away. It is a strange feeling I think, because I distinctly remember that when I first arrived in Tbilisi, I thought a month was going to feel so long, and that I would have a lot of time in Georgia to fully absorb the country. But time passed so rapidly, especially when the training was ending and we were meeting with so many different organizations each day. And now, it has only been a couple of months since I left my friends and students in Georgia, and yet I feel like the trip was long ago.   Figure 1: A view of the capital city, Tbilisi, before sunset. It is an interesting experience, being in a completely new place for four weeks and overwhelmingly receiving information about the political and historical context, the social nuisances, the personal stories, the traditions and recipes, all while working so intimately with a small community like Bediani...

Ostional, Nicaragua August 11 th - 14 th , 2016 After long months of planning and collaborating the UC Davis Blum PASS Grant funded Eco-tourism Guide Workshop has concluded to the tune of a biodiversity dance, laughter and graduation ceremony. The workshop included over 35 course participants, with ranging levels of experience in eco-tourism and leadership. For many, it was their first time exploring a long-held interest in eco-tourism and for others a great opportunity to share important relevant knowledge and further their leadership skills.  Many community members in the Nicaraguan coastal towns of Ostional, Tortuga, Escamequita and El Coco are well aware of the charismatic sea turtle and its international renown. The beaches of La Flor Wildlife Refuge are one of only seven world-wide that host arribadas , or mass arrivals of Olive Ridley sea turtle ( Lepidochelys olivacea ), which is a great tourist attraction. The workshop, which took place over four jam-packed day...

It is midnight in the tropics; the clang of the ceiling fan is not an entirely discomforting rhythm, the cicadas and frogs are engaged in their warm-aired serenade and I cannot sleep.   Tomorrow I will take a bus to Managua and begin in-country work on my UC Davis Blum Grant. It is hard not to be nervous when you care about something. The birth of this project can be traced back to November in 2009, when I volunteered for a month in rural Ostional, Nicaragua teaching English lessons to a youth guide group by day and patrolling beaches at night in search of sea turtles. A picture of myself (front far right) and the 2009 guide group in Ostional, Nicaragua. Upon returning in 2016 I was able to reconnect with several members, two pictured here, Marvin (front far left) and Irvin (front, middle) attended the Eco-tourism Training Workshop in August.         The guide group officially dissolved a few years back, but interest in recei...