Photo: Irene Koomen ‘I should have been in Ivory Coast, but I’m working at my laptop at home, looking out over my garden in Wageningen.’ Normally, Koomen works a lot in Africa, to discuss research and training projects on the spot. But that’s not possible now. Visits to Ghana and Ethiopia are cancelled too. Today she will discuss the project with her Ivorian partners on Skype.
‘The coronavirus crisis has a lot of consequences for the work of WCDI. Two ongoing WCDI courses in Wageningen have stopped and the participants have gone home early. Four other courses due to start in the coming weeks have been cancelled. WCDI is studying the possibility of offering the courses online. The training courses within WCDI’s development programmes have been cancelled for now too. The projects are continuing but there will probably be delays.
I consult the various clients regularly, to figure out how much delay there will be in the projects and how to limit the impact of the coronavirus crisis. But the crisis has its advantages too. Now I’m is forced to work at home, I finally have time to read and write. And my daughter, who normally works in Amsterdam, has come home. Plus, the coffee is a lot better than at the office!’
This is the seventh part of a series on working from home during the corona crisis. The editorial staff calls a WUR colleague every day to find out how things are going. The illustration is (of course) a selfie or a snapshot taken by a housemate. Would you like to participate? Mail resource@wur.nl or share via #WURkfromHOME.