In this community highlight blog, MBAIHONDOUM Jacob shares how being an iCHORDS community member allowed him to network with other experts in the field and gain valuable professional experience.
My name is MBAIHONDOUM Jacob, I am a Chadian PhD student who is currently doing my doctoral thesis in sociology at the University of Yaoundé I as part of a project on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) in Central Africa. This project is led by the Organization for the Coordination of Endemic Diseases Control in Central Africa (OCEAC). I am also a member of the iCHORDS community. In my search for journal articles to publish a paper on Guinea worm, I wrote to a man who does research on NTDs for guidance. This individual put me in touch with Mr. Leshawn Benedict, the iCHORDS coordinator.
After several email exchanges, and at Leshawn’s suggestion, I joined the iCHORDS community because it was relevant to my area of research. As a member of iCHORDS, I participated for the first time in a Zoom meeting organized by Mr. Leshawn. During the introduction of the participants, Mr. Leshawn gave me the floor and I introduced myself in French, although the meeting was in English. It was during this meeting that I met (virtually) Mr. Moussa Sangaré as he read my message written in French and answered me.
Since that day, we have stayed in touch. A few months later, I wanted to apply to a call for applications launched by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie for a small grant for an internship. My wish was to go to Mali, one of the endemic countries of dracunculiasis, to benefit from the Malian experiences in the fight against Guinea worm disease. I had contacted Mr. Moussa Sangare who is also a member of the iCHORDs community, and he decided to put me in contact with two Malian experts in NTDs. I made good use of the contacts available to me. One of the contacts was Prof. Yaya Ibrahim Coulibaly, who is the head of the NTD Training and Research Lab Faculty of Medicine and Odontostomatology and the head of the Training and Research Department at the Dermatology Hospital in Bamako. He was willing to sign the letter of acceptance to host me in his Lab. Dr Coulibaly is also an expert in the an expert from the National Guinea Worm Eradication Program in Mali.
Following this letter, the AUF (Francophone University Agency) granted me funding for an internship in Bamako. I arrived in Bamako on September 03, 2022, at 4 PM UTC. Mr. Moussa Sangaré, who was already in Bamako, called me during the night after having read an email I sent informing him of my arrival. On Monday, September 05, 2022, I went to the Dermatology Hospital to meet with Prof. Coulibaly. When I arrived there, it was Mr. Moussa Sangaré who was the first to welcome me in front of the office of the Department of Training and Research. This was possible thanks to the iCHORDS program. I am very proud to belong to this iCHORDs community and I want to thank the coordinator of this platform Mr. Leshawn Benedict for his dynamism.
Vive ICHORDs!!!
