Fishing for Lightning, Catching a Lightning Bug

Second Time’s the Charm - Rachael acting the consummate professional during our second ever household interview.

Published June 22, 2013, last updated on October 5, 2017 under Voices of DGHI

By: Chandra Swanson

Mark Twain had the right idea when he remarked, “[t]he difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” Though he spoke of writing stories, I found it equally apt for writing surveys. Depending on an individual’s perception, the simple question of “Do you have running water?” might generate a yes meaning plumbing, or yes meaning a water source outside. For the more technical questions, misinterpretations and differing nuance were equally common, and more important to fix. Sometimes the responses we got definitely were lightning bugs, and we had to negotiate meaning for another five minutes to find the lightning. This past week, we have been tinkering with wording, refining translation, and streamlining procedure. I kept imagining a Venn Diagram with three circles: comfort, honesty, and efficiency. With every survey, the sweet spot is dead center. The interviewee would not be offended by the questions, we would get accurate, honest answers, and in a timely manner. Luckily, we have been surrounded by knowledgeable cultural brokers, who always are able to find the right words. By Wednesday, we had crisp new scripts and a comfortable rhythm with the translators.

Still, landing squarely in the intersection of comfort, honesty and efficiency proved difficult, especially when working with men, and around the issues of alcohol. For instance, almost every single person surveyed reported that alcohol consumption was a “tatizo kubwa” – a huge problem – throughout the community, yet only a minority report drinking at all. It’s a curious phenomenon, and hopefully having adjusted procedures and translations, we’ll make meaning of it. While the HPV and maternal health sections generally went smoothly, we were surprised to find a disconnect between what we had read in the literature versus the reality. In preparation, we had read that the government had been planning to conduct HPV vaccination trials nationwide. In practice, few people had ever heard of HPV or a vaccine. Hopefully, this will be a great opportunity for us to contribute. A final challenge has been simple logistics. During the Maternal Health Clinic days, we are often at the whim of fussy infants. And a hungry, tired baby does much care about answering our questions in great detail.

Yesterday, we went into Moshi to meet with a gynecologist at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, hoping to get a better understanding of how HPV and treatment functioned locally. His information was incredibly helpful, giving us insight into the reasons for that HPV and cervical cancer become such problematic illnesses. He also opened up several new avenues for turning our data into useful feedback for the community – we’re excited to work with their maternal health clinics in the future.

Rachael (braving the dala dala alone!) returns today from Moshi with the 960-some remaining pages of surveys and consent forms. Those pages will be distributed and filled out in the next two weeks, and if all goes well, we’ll catch some more lightning.