How time flies. The first term of my 2 years Masters studies seemed to have gone by so quickly. Yeah, no regrets since it was full of accomplishments, excitement, fun, demands, several engagements and so on. Learning the terrain (i.e. UBC, Canada and the western culture and norms) was very primary for me during my first term that was why aside my classes, I seemed entrenched in student life on campus since I believe, this was one of the best ways to learn outside the classroom.
Pictures taken on field trips
A forester in the forest
Often, the only time you get to interact with your course mates was only in class which is usually between 2 -3 hours and twice a week at most. Although, one of the courses I sat in had some field trips, so I had some opportunity to discuss, chat, learn and teach others about Africa, my passion etc. The course also afforded me the opportunity to travel through the interior of British Columbia. I really loved the experience and the knowledge I acquired from the trips. One of my other courses on community and indigenous forestry exposed me to some more knowledge surrounding indigenous issues in Canada, land management systems and built in me critical skills in power analysis, critical thinking, community engagement / facilitation skills etc. Through the course, I was able to create two wiki pages on the UBC wiki on issues surrounding illegal logging in the Republic of Congo and the other on a community forestry case study in Cameroon
At IFSA events
During the term, I was involved with the International Forestry Student Association (IFSA), UBC as the Head of Special Events for COP. In October, I led a team of students that organised the annual UBC Prepping for COP event which was widely attended by members of the UBC community. I also had the opportunity to represent the association as one of the delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP23) in Germany between November 3rd and 12th. I was privileged to join the delegation of IFSA from 8 other countries. My participation in COP23 as an observer gave me the opportunity to learn more about the politics surrounding climate change negotiations, youth involvement, efforts made countries in climate change mitigation and adaption as well as previous, current and on-going research on forestry, climate science, clean energy, circular economy amongst others. I was one of the four panel members at the press conference organised by IFSA at the conference to present forestry perspectives to climate change mitigation and adaption. On returning to UBC, I made presentation in couple of events namely: Master of International Forestry class, IFSA UBC weekly meeting, UBC Sustainability Story telling Night. In addition, I published a couple of blogs to educate the public with highlights from the conference.
IFSA delegates with Fijian Prime Minister at COP23
Speaking at UBC Sustainability Story Telling Night
Earlier in the semester, I got a work learn position with UBC Go Global: International Learning Programs unit as a program assistant. I helped with promoting several UBC courses through the Global Seminar programs. I also participated in the Global Experience fair organised by our office. I also carried a lot of database update for Go Global as well as making meaningful contributions to projects and programs from an international student perspective. I love the feel of not just going to classes through out the week or working on my research but also I get to experience what a typical corporate environment looks like and the amazing team work that goes on in the iHouse.
At the UBC Global Experience Fair 2017
I enjoyed and greatly appreciate every event organised by MasterCard staff in the first term especially the events that bring together the scholars, breakfast sessions as well as the MasterCard Mid year review – which gave me the privilege to share my thoughts and recommendations about the scholars’ program. The UBC MCF staff are the best. The support we receive from them is invaluable. They are always working to make sure they make the program.
I had some fun time with folks at St John’s College, IFSA UBC, P2C UBC, MasterCard graduate scholars and I visited a few places.
At SJC Founders’ Day Dinner
At Beijing Opera in Vancouver
With other French learners and our tutors at SJC
In my assessment, the term was a transformative, highly engaging and productive one.
For this new term, I will devote more time to preparing my proposal and putting in place all that needs to be done for me to proceed on my field research sometime in Spring.
Here are articles written about my experience at COP23
https://blogifsa.wordpress.com/2017/11/07/the-first-day-at-cop23/
https://sustain.ubc.ca/stories/student-profile-look-cop23
https://sustain.ubc.ca/stories/united-nations-conference-parties-recap
http://climatereporters.com/2017/11/my-first-day-at-cop-23/
Official UNFCCC IFSA Press Conference: https://unfccc.cloud.streamworld.de/webcast/ifsa