my process narrative Up until the last few months, the DRC has always just been "that other country in Africa" to me. I knew nothing about it, I knew none of its everyday struggles, and I knew extremely little about all this third world country has experienced and was currently experiencing. This all changed when one day in my first period American History class, we had a lesson pertaining to the war occuring in the DRC and how it was similar to our current unit's war at the time. I learned of the rampant violence throughout the country and how dangerous it was to walk the streets at night. I remember sitting in class imagining what my life would look like if simple freedoms such as walking at night were taken away from me. I remember sitting in my desk while horrific visions played through my mind of constantly being fearful to step out of my house. Usually I am interested in what I learn in school, but this particular lesson had me intrigued.
I went throughout my day per usual, until I got to my AP Environmental Science class. Coincidentally, our unit was on environmental degradation, and the vicious toll it takes on a country. The prime example my teacher used to better describe the term? You guessed it, the DRC. Her lecture spoke to all aspects of how the terror in the region has brought upon a multitude of lasting impacts, none that were beneficial. We learned that because of the war, sanitation levels were low, clean water was difficult to find, and open wounds were common. This all gave way to the country falling to a disease: Ebola. I think it was a stroke of luck that all of this information was thrown at me, because that same day, I saw I needed to revise my research question. I went home that day and spent hours, hours that I probably should have been studying for my vocabulary quizzes, but nevertheless hours, researching all about Ebola, the DRC, and the war in the country. My original question focused more on the environmental aspect of the outbreak, but as I began to dive deeper and deeper into the topic at hand, my question shifted more towards the war aspect of the outbreak instead, for most of the articles I found had information correlating with the terror as well. |
From the beginning |
Where i am now |
I knew a major challenge I would face throughout my essay journey would be the cyclical pattern that my topic began to create, for I was worried I would miss information depending upon where I chose to start my paper. Coming up with my thesis was probably the hardest part. Where do I begin? One thing affected another, which caused another, which triggered another, which aggravated the other so again, which amplified another, so again, where do I begin? I wasted time worrying about where to start, rather than just diving in.
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Finally, I realized that no matter where I started, it would still get me to the same endpoint, for the entire paper was one giant never-ending cycle. I decided to begin with the war that triggered the environmental degradation, yet I found much difficulty in doing so, because I needed sources to back that up rather than just common knowledge. Again, I felt the need to change my thesis. I tried just flipping it around, talking about how the Ebola was brought on quickly and violently because of the poor sanitation quality that was linked to the war, and finally I had written my thesis.
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struggles & SURPRISES
While my writing process went surprisingly smooth, there were a few bumps along the way. What seemed like the most ideal situation to be in, turned out to be what almost made me start my entire paper over again. During the research process, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of content I was finding. It seemed as though there were endless articles on my topic, all on the specific angles I needed. I was shocked at the surplus of information to backup my thesis. However, very quickly this turned into something that made it impossible to decide which was the best information to use in my final paper. I had 34 index cards by the time I was done, which would have been fine if this was a fifteen page paper, but it was not. Therefore, I had tons of sifting, deciding, reading, and deleting to do to shorten the amount of content that needed to fit in my paper. Along that journey, I did find that some of the cards became extremely repetitive, so it was actually helpful in the end, because I also threw out the cards that said similar ideas, just in different ways.
what's new?
As expected, according to the World Health Organization's article, "Ebola Virus Disease- Democratic Republic of the Congo," isolated regions such as the Ituri Province, located inside the DRC, are being newly affected by the disease. Recently, thirteen new health zones have reported 109 victims in the last 21 days. The efforts to contain this country's worst outbreak yet are still being deterred due to protests and violence. The Telegraph's news article, written by Anne Gulland, states that as a majority of the country voted for a new leader recently, certain areas run down by Ebola have postponed their voting until late March, long after a new leader will have been inaugurated. Protests broke out and violence spilled over into an Ebola treatment center, forcing all doctors and medical staff to evacuate immediately. While there is still no cure, early detection is imperative to heighten survival chances, yet because of the continuous violence, accessing patients soon enough seems to be the largest issue at hand.
works cited
“Ebola Virus Disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 28 Dec. 2018, www.who.int/csr/don/28-december-2018-ebola-drc/en/.
Gulland, Anne. “Fears over Spread of Ebola as Violence Shuts down Control Activities.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 31 Dec. 2018, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/31/fears-spread-ebola-violence-shuts-control-activities/.
Header Borrowed From: Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ebola-public-health-emergency-international-concern-congo- who_us_5bc7540fe4b0d38b58743561
Gulland, Anne. “Fears over Spread of Ebola as Violence Shuts down Control Activities.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 31 Dec. 2018, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/31/fears-spread-ebola-violence-shuts-control-activities/.
Header Borrowed From: Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ebola-public-health-emergency-international-concern-congo- who_us_5bc7540fe4b0d38b58743561