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AdvocacyNet
Fellow Update

August 19, 2008

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Thirty-four Peace Fellows are volunteering this summer in 21 countries or territories with community-based partners of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP issues a weekly digest of their blogs.

 

Highlights:

 

 

Excerpts:

 

Chi Vu (Coloumbia University) is working alongside survivors of landmine injuries with Landmine Survivors' Network-Vietnam in the Quang Binh province of Vietnam.

"During the Vietnam War, she was a member of the youth volunteer team in her community. One day, the area around her village was bombed and everyone rushed underground to take shelter in a tunnel when it suddenly collapsed. Ms. Thuyen took her duties as a youth volunteer seriously, and she was helping to dig people out and pull them to safety when she stepped on a landmine and had part of her right leg blown off. She was 19 years old."

 

Danita Topcagic (University of Denver) is working with the Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO) in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"We interviewed Rashed Rahman, a blind man who came to BERDO for computer training. BERDO provided computer training to 10 students teaching them how to use basic programs like Microsoft Office and how to browse the internet using JAWS (job access with speech) Software. Rashed was one of those students and upon the completion of the training BERDO helped him find a job at HSBC bank where he works as a telephone operator."

 

Ash Kosiewicz (Georgetown University) is working with the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) in Lima, Peru.

"For the last 16 years, Ortiz has fought incessantly in honor of the Cantuta 10, relegating her studies, career, and the potential of a family of her own to the side. Her own personal ventures, including helping run her family's small pharmacy in Chachapoyas and the cultivation of a small organic coffee farm, came to a standstill once legal proceedings began against Colina. Since the restitution of her brother's remains and their subsequent burial a few days later, Ortiz now awaits the sentencing of Fujimori as the last necessary piece in her 16-year fight for justice."

 

Raka Banerjee (UC San Diego) is advocating for human rights and good governance with the Nepal Social Development and People's Empowerment Center (NESPEC) in Gaighat, Nepal.

"Nepali citizens are undergoing numerous hardships due to the current situation. Hundreds of passengers were stranded on their way to varied destinations due to the sudden declaration of the bandha (strike). Bus windows were smashed and several vehicles were vandalized. Worse still, many more are facing food shortages. The bandha is hitting the 'pahari' (the people who live in the hill regions) the hardest, and it is they who are at the greatest risk of food scarcity and starvation."

 

Annelieke van de Wiel (University of Amsterdam) is working with Survivor Corps and the Gulu Disabled Persons Union in the Gulu district of northern Uganda.

"What is mainly exciting about the work ahead, to me, is that this is (international) human rights law in action. The campaigning is all about bringing international and national human rights to the beneficiaries. Whatever legislation in place, it remains of no value until the moment of tangible implementation and translation to local reality, when local leaders are conscious about people's rights and make a true effort in securing them, when the beneficiaries, in this case people with disabilities, are aware of their rights and the ways to invoke them and advocate for themselves."

 

Willow Heske (Columbia University) is working with the Democracy and Workers' Rights Center (DWRC) in Ramallah, Palestine.

"If a woman lives in Ramallah, then there are many local opportunities for her to engage in professional work, but if she lives in Nablus or Jenin, she would have to travel two, maybe three hours one way to Ramallah, she would have to pass through at least two checkpoints where she may be physically or verbally abused by Israeli soldiers, and she would probably spend a long time each day just sitting at the side of the road, waiting for the approval to let the bus she is traveling in go."

 

Kristina Rosinsky (University of Maryland) is teaching photography and blogging to homeless children with the Undugu Society of Kenya.

"In the past week, two members of USK Street Children and Youth Associations have been killed in Nairobi. David Kimemia was shot dead by security guards because they mistakenly thought he was responsible for a robbery since he was running away from a large commotion. In reality, he was awoken by the chaos and due to his surprise, started running. Just a few days before that, Stephen Kimanzi was hacked to death by Maasai, accused too of stealing, when in fact all he was doing was going to buy medicine."

 

Jes Therkelsen (American University) is advocating for Dalit rights with the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

"Nepalis who have become friends of mine have invited me into their lives, if only for a brief moment, without the fear of getting hurt. For us, we have a friendship with a set beginning and end, formalized with plane reservations, foreign investments and university semesters. The opportunity to know, to connect with someone "if only briefly" who would have otherwise passed through this life unknown to me on the opposite side of the world, will remain with me forever."

 

Colby Pacheco (UC San Diego) is working on Romani rights with the Dzeno Association in Prague, the Czech Republic.

"To me, fascism represents the failures of society; of the education system, of elected leaders and of an inability to think logically. In 1930's Europe, radical and fascist dictators swept to power in countries that were yearning for economic change... In Europe today (particularly in Italy and the Czech Republic) the economic disparity is no where near the level of post World War I Germany. So how then can neo-fascists drum up support in these democratic states?"

 

Paul Colombini (American University) is working with informal waste recyclers at the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group in Delhi, India.

"Although I accomplished many things here, I feel that I have gained much more from the experience than I gave. Through my coworkers and the wastepickers I learned about subjects ranging from the intricacies of Indian dining to the complexities of urban waste management. Above all I gained a humbling appreciation for the challenges of life in developing countries and for the people who strive to make this world a better place."