My experience at the Turkana Basin Institute

My name is Chloe Woodley and my experience and time at the Turkana Basin Institute has been nothing short of amazing and inspiring! As a young professional it is challenging navigating work and career possibilities, as you are still collecting experience whilst others have already specialized and are fully confident in their areas. That is why, I was beyond grateful and excited, when I received the incredible opportunity to shadow the Communications Department and Communications Lead, Laura Katana, at the Turkana Basin Institute. With job shadowing you follow a professional through their workday, observing and learning about their responsibilities and tasks, whilst getting exposure to the career path you have chosen, gaining experience and knowledge.

Walking up the stairs to the Turkana Basin Institute’s Nairobi Support Office on my first day there I did not really know what to expect, as it was my first time experiencing a professional office setting and seeing how the Communications Department works within a scientific organization. I am currently finishing my bachelor’s degree in scientific journalism/communication, with a passion for science and writing, which is why I was very curious to see this work in action.

I was very warmly welcomed by everyone, helping me settle in quickly and feel confident in the work I could produce. I learnt about all of the work that goes into a blog post, how social media posts are extracted from that and how experiences from the field schools, such as the Harvard Summer Program, are documented through photography, interviews and observations. I also got the chance to meet and interview Dr. Bob Raynolds, who has produced amazing maps covering the Turkana area and write a story on that. My daily tasks included creating blog posts about the Harvard Summer Program, by transcribing audio interviews and using that information to create a series of blog posts, focusing on different aspects of the Field School experience and then choosing from lots of beautiful pictures that can make the blog posts truly come alive and be reachable for the reader.

Little did I know that I would not only experience the office, but also working in the field. I was very excited, when I was given the amazing opportunity to attend the Astronomy Field School at Ileret in July, to document the experience. I had never been to the Turkana Region before, and feel very lucky to have been given that opportunity. Wrapped in jackets to protect from the biting Nairobi cold, we got on to the TBI plane early Sunday morning. Within the two hour flight, the landscape changed completely from a green blanket to a desert-like landscape with bushes scattered throughout it and the lake stretching out in its vastness.

As a student, I have attended some similar programs to the field schools, so I found it very interesting experiencing this program from the staff perspective. Seeing how the planning works, the problem-solving, and engagement with students gave me a much more in-depth view of the amount of work that goes into these programs and the dedication by everyone on the team to make it as meaningful and valuable as possible for the students. Ileret Campus immediately had my heart, with the team at Ileret being very welcoming and warm, with a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains in the backdrop, the beautiful sunsets that cast a golden light acting as a reward for having made it through the hot day and the desert roses in full bloom decorating the otherwise dry landscape with pink.

The two weeks of the field school flew by, every day a new lesson and opportunity to grow. I would spend the days interviewing professors and people from the campus to get more in-depth information on the program to inform the future blogs, speaking to students to learn about their experience and then in the evenings rotate between the four different experiments, to observe and photograph what the students were doing. It was an unforgettable time, spending the nights under the Milky Way and the night sky that always seems to be bursting with bright stars, constellations and shooting stars, whilst surrounded by people who are driven by a passion for the night sky and able to answer any question I ever had about Astronomy.

If someone had told me at the beginning of June that the next month I would be experiencing this, I would not have believed them. Every meal was a chance to reconvene and I enjoyed the company of people driven by their work and beliefs, with rich conversations and lots of laughter. The field seems to loosen people up and it is a very interesting experience meeting people in an office setting and then spending time with them in the field, under the hot sun and in nature. The high level of professionalism is always there, just also mixed with sharing daily life with your colleagues who you become closer with and form friendships with throughout the experience. I loved learning about the different telescopes and their unique functions, as well as having a go at coding and getting hands-on experience in some of the data analysis that the students learnt for processing the data they collected with each of the four telescopes. We also visited the fossil labs and site, the lake shores of Lake Turkana and the hydroponics gardens fuelling the Ileret Campus, making this a very interdisciplinary learning experience.

Often, all you see as an audience is the finished blogs, the finished social media posts and the reports, whether monthly newsletters or annual reports. However, one does not see the amount of work going on behind the scenes, including collecting all of the information, being flexible within your mind to understand the variety of sciences and activities going on around TBI, taking photographs, being in the field to document the experiences and open to receive new and very different stories to what you are focusing on in that moment. Not to mention the synthesization of materials, carefully selecting the right photographs and editing your work before it gets published for the World to see, and for people to learn and become curious about.

It has been an honour to be able to shadow TBI’s Communications Lead, Laura Katana at the Turkana Basin Institute, spend time connecting with everyone at the Nairobi Support Office as well as Ileret Campus and be able to gain hands-on experience in communications at the Astronomy Field School. The team at TBI is who have made my time here so beautiful, and I would like to thank everyone who made this experience unforgettable and welcomed me into their space with a warm smile. I have made so many memories that I will carry with me, such as the hours spent under the Ileret night sky, the plane rides over the vast Lake Turkana, making new connections with incredible people and at the field school, discovering who I am in a professional setting and being able to grow within those roles and have experience in scientific communication, that will carry me forward with motivation, inspiration and a drive to make a positive change, like TBI does.

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Author: Chloe Woodley