makin' copies

Some of you are more familiar than others with the saga that my attempt to gain research clearance in Botswana has become. To bring the rest of you up to speed, let's just say that I began this process last November, and it hasn't exactly been a smooth ride. As the situation currently stands, the ethics board in Botswana needs to approve my research before I can receive my research permit. My funding is also at stake here: I can't access my grant money without the permit.

Why exactly this is so, and whether there were other ways this might have played out, are longer stories than I'm prepared to tell here. Suffice it to say that I turned in 14 copies of the application last November, and eventually received some feedback. The committee reviewing my application meets next towards the end of October, but they need my application five weeks in advance. (Not even my dissertation proposal got turned in five weeks in advance! I hope this doesn't give my deparment any ideas...) This meant that the whole kit & caboodle had to be turned in yesterday.

Now, we're not talking a measly little 4-5 page application. We're talking about:

• one 16-page application;
• one 20-page protocol;
• 25 pages of consent documents in English and Setswana;
• 12 pages of interview guides;
• a whole bunch of other supporting documents, such as an introductory statement summarizing how I'd responded to the committee's criticisms, my award letters, my cv, statements of various kinds, etc.

We're talking about 90 pages for each application.

I toddled off to my local Business Support Centre on Wednesday, hoping to print out a copy of the thing and proof-read it (or go blind trying). The Support Centre's little ink-jet printer spat out about six pages before the text began fading beyond recognition. So much for that. I sent off a desperate SMS to a friendly fellow researcher with a laser printer (which he drove all the way to Jo'burg for the purpose of purchasing), who let me print the monster at his place later that evening.

Thursday morning, I reappeared at the Support Centre, print the one page I hadn't printed the night before, and ask for 14 copies of the whole thing. Now, I don't know whether their copier simply can't collate, or whether they don't know how to make the copier collate. Either way, I wound up with 14 copies of each page. I had to collate the whole thing by hand. In the copy shop. It took maybe 1/2 hour to copy the whole thing; it took two hours to collate it.

The folks at the Support Centre were actually wonderfully helpful. They helped me collate it bit by bit, found bulldog clips to hold each 90-page copy together, found a box for all fourteen copies, and helped me carry the boxes to the car. They have earned their little crowns in heaven, god knows. Meanwhile, the Support Centre itself earned almost P700 for that little job. Yes, P700. P6 = $1, folks. Ouch. There's no application fee for the research permit application, but one shells out in other ways. Some of you might remember me mentioning the cost of printing and shipping to Botswana the 12 lbs. of paper that was my first application. I still wish I had photographs.

I carted all however-many-kilograms of paper over to the relevant Ministry Office. I think the guy in charge was somewhat amused to see me haul two boxes of paper into his office. All I can say is that I'm glad I don't have to read it. (I've already found at least one embarassing typo, so I think it's fair to say that, in the interest of my sanity, I shouldn't read it.)

Now I have nothing to do with it but wait... and reward myself for getting it in. Rewards include hard cider, a trip to the gym, and a new knitting project.

And, as a complete non-sequitor, here's a delightful photo of my nephew. The eye on his right (your left) is the false one. Pretty amazing piece of work, no?