Last week was week one of my research project. I am spending my 3 weeks researching the effect that community organizations have on reducing risk factors for drug use among teens in a low income community in Salvador called Nordeste. My goal is to spend time with a body boarding program that works with kids from that area, interviews parents and coaches, and use the Center for Study and Treatment of the Abuse of Drugs that is at the Federal University of Bahia to get information on the history of drug use in the community and what sort of resources are available, how the community takes advantage of those resources, and what the challenges are in treating and reducing drug use in the community.
Let me tell you, conducting research in a foreign country is full of challenges. As this is more of an ethno- grafic research project and most of my information will be coming from primary sources and interviews, my biggest concern was getting the contacts I needed and making the connections to be able to carry out these interviews. This last week, I had a really hard time getting in touch with people and getting them to commit to an interview or to a meeting time... Brazilian's definitely have their own concept of what doing something in a timely manner means and that has been a cultural difference that I have learned to accept and work around in my research.
Another challenge that I am facing is the language. While my research adviser speaks English fairly well, most of my contacts, interviews, my background readings, and any prior research I am drawing from is all in Portuguese. While my comprehension of written Portuguese has come along quite well in the last 3 months and I speak it well enough to get by in day to day life. However, when interviewing people, I have to simultaneously listen, take notes, understand what they are saying, and then process and come up with follow up questions. I have been able to do it with the few interviews I have gotten so far, but at the end of the day, you're brain is definitely exhausted.
Although the project started out slower than I would have liked it to, I am really enjoying this. I have never done field research before and this is a great experience. I feel like I am learning so much about a topic that is relevant not only to Salvador, but the places all over the world. It is opening up my eyes to how drug use here in Salvador isn't just a disease or an addiction in and of itself, but rather a symptom of a greater underlying issue. My hope is that in this next week of interviews and research, I will continue to get a greater overall picture of how drugs impact the community of Nordeste, the ways that the Amaralina Kids Body Boarding Team is working to get these kids off the streets, and explore ways that the government can begin to provide more support to community organizations such as those that are here in Nordeste.
I'm excited to continue learning and hopefully, this research is the beginning of something that I can continue in the US, back here in Brazil, and in other countries as well.