Missing Maps
Last Thursday, after a long day of studying and report writing, I was invited by a friend to an MSF event happening at the library. I heard there was free pizza and as a student, I automatically said yes. Prior to the invitation, I had never heard of MSF let alone the Missing Maps project. For those of you who don’t know, the Friends of MSF are a student run society and require students help as volunteer mappers to map remote parts of the world that are most vulnerable to crisis, whether that’s natural disasters, disease-related or due to conflict. Maps are incredibly important. As a geologist I know the extent of how vital fieldwork is, as it is essential evidence to back up interpretations. Therefore to learn how to digitally map is a new skill altogether. We were assigned to identify settlements in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. This will allow NGOs such as the Red Cross to establish population estimates so that then everyone knows exactly what supplies are nee...