Methodical initiation difficulties, exciting evening conversations, and a lot of warmth

Exactly today, 8 weeks ago, my adventure began. As 'feared', time flies by – and this is of course a good sign 😉. During these 8 weeks, I have already experienced and learned a lot. That's a good thing because, after all, I also traveled here to the cocoa producers for my master's thesis. In short, I want to investigate through my master's thesis what a good life looks like in the eyes of cocoa farmers. During my 3.5-month stay, I am collecting data and will then focus on data analysis and the writing process after Christmas, as soon as I am back in Switzerland.

For my data collection, I mainly conduct interviews. At first, I didn't feel comfortable in this role as a 'researcher'. I was hesitant to approach people directly and didn't want to bother them with that. Additionally, I was far from fluent in Spanish at the beginning: I didn't understand much (which definitely had to do with their dialect), was afraid of making mistakes, and often searched for words. During that time, I often asked myself: How exactly am I supposed to conduct an interview here when I mostly only understand bits and pieces?

Ultimately, I gave myself about 4 weeks of 'acclimatization' before I dared to approach the first interview. I conducted the first interview with someone I had interacted a lot with and thus knew better. He was a bit of my guinea pig: Does he understand my questions, and do I understand him (linguistically)? How long does an interview usually take? What does he find strange? I was super relieved when I got through this first conversation, and it mostly went well. Yay, I had already completed 1 out of 15! 😉

Over time, I grew more accustomed to my role: many people already know me (I'm the Gringa who plays soccer and is always around 😉), I also managed to get along with Spanish (and likely adopted some slang words), and the people here are very open and often happy when I ask them for an interview. The first interviews were still very stiff, and I had to read many questions. Sometimes it felt like an interrogation for both of us 😉... Now we even have fun doing the interviews, and it has evolved into pleasant evening conversations: I often meet with a cocoa farmer at their home in the evening and let them simply tell their life stories. If I miss any information, I ask follow-up questions in between or pose specific questions towards the end of the conversation. This way, I have already spent quite a few hours (while drinking cocoa and schnapps) at the dining tables of various cocoa producers, listening to their stories and narratives. People seem to greatly appreciate that I take the time for them, and I can also give them a glimpse into life in Switzerland. And the best part: Through the interviews, not only good data emerge, but also beautiful friendships. For the next visit here, I will probably need a separate gift suitcase 😉.

And when I'm not interviewing someone, I spend my time walking, playing soccer, jogging, swimming, working for the Choba Choba Foundation... and I try to participate in all sorts of (everyday) activities (working on the plantations, celebrating festivals ;), fishing, dancing, etc.). Ultimately, I want to experience as much of their life as possible here :).