Hi My name is Chigozie Okwu and I'm a 2nd
year Master's of public policy student

here at the ford school growing up at home
in Chicago I was exposed to 2 distinct

cultures Nigerian and American my parents
spoke to me in a language that I called

a bone glitch a combination of Evo and
English Some days my home style

they spoke at the meatballs and other
days it's more like if you see superfood

Nigerian Staples I recall my experience
stories about going to the market to get

the freshest opera and it was the to make
the soup of the day and looking back at my

childhood I think that's what inspired
by policy interests and Food Policy and

International Development This summer has
given the unique opportunity to work with

the United States Agency for International
Development better known as USA ID

us here it is a development organization
that tries to help address and

levy poverty in developing countries
across the world by implementing different

projects based around
the environment how and

a range of other projects in this
capacity I worked in USA ideas

Indonesia office in Jakarta where
I was on our occasion program so

I work to help office the program
office and the Environmental Office so

one of the most unique aspects for
me was working in the environmental office

where I got to work on a project called
Sustainable ecosystems advance and

what that is it's a project in the eastern
part of Indonesia focused around

conserving biodiversity tourism and
sustainable fisheries So

a project that really directly aligned
with my project with my interests and

in that capacity I interviewed local
stakeholders who were directly impacted

by USAID to war provided recommendations
on ways I could I could see the per

program improving and also learned about
the importance of cultural diplomacy.

My time at U.S.C. ID taught me a lot
about how to work with people from

different cultural backgrounds
how to write clearly and.

How to work for

a federal bureaucracy all of which I'm
sure will help me in my future career.

Also my time in Indonesia solidified the
fact that I see myself working abroad and

on issues related to the environment and
food thank you for your time.