A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to produce social change by helping marginalized communities to become advocates for social justice and claim their rights

From the Field, August 17, 2004

Summer Interns and AP Director Report from Partners Abroad

The Advocacy Project's summer interns, graduate students from Georgetown and Tufts Universities, are reporting on-line about their work with partners abroad in Afghanistan,  Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Italy, the Palestinian territories and Sri Lanka. AP Director Iain Guest is also traveling and working with partners this summer, and issuing his own reports.

Excerpts of some of the most recent blogs follow, and will be sent weekly. Read an overview of all 2004 programs.

Christina Fetterhoff (Georgetown University) is working with the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES), an organization in Quito, Ecuador that works on issues of human rights and development.

It is the middle of my week here in Puyo. Classes at the Amazon School are in full swing and the students have engaged and dedicated themselves to the coursework. I, although an observer, have done the same, as their eagerness is contagious. And, I am learning a lot.

Yesterday, CDES director Patricio Pazmiño taught a class on human rights and democracy. He began by asking the group of students to define some key words that they would be using for the duration of the course. They are mostly words whose definitions I take for granted-words that have become so integrated into my academic vocabulary that perhaps I have lost a little bit of their true definitions.

For example, when asked to define "capitalism," the students replied that it was an accumulation of money-nothing more, nothing less. For them, capitalism is not an economic system. It is synonymous with US hegemony-the rich controlling and taking advantage of the poor.

Stacy Kosko (Georgetown University) is working with Dzeno Association, an NGO working to promote awareness of, and strengthen, Roma culture in Prague, The Czech Republic.

I never meant to catch his eye. I was just staring out the window, watching the crumbling train station on the outskirts of Budapest give way to crumbling homes...But in the passing shadow of another train, his reflection suddenly came into sharp focus, and our eyes met in the dirty glass.

His English was very good, but heavily accented, like someone who has learned a language mostly from books. He turned out to be a graduate student at Central European University in Budapest. We exchanged a few more polite questions.  It wasn't long before I was greeted with that half-incredulous, half-jeering "Really?" that I've come to expect when I tell people in this part of the world that I work for a Roma advocacy organization. "May I ask, eh, why?" ..."You know, you seem like you are smart. You study international relations. You should know better."

Michael Keller (Georgetown University) is working with the Home for Human Rights (HHR), a human rights organization in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

With only a week and a half to go before returning to the States, I wish I could say that I've accomplished more than I have, though it's not for lack of effort. I had big plans for Home for Human Rights. I was going to put its journal online in order to increase readership. I was going to establish contacts in the local and international media to ensure that the valuable stock of documentary evidence compiled by this organization is not wasted in obscurity. I was going to train the employees to write professional grant proposals rather than the vague requests they put out now. And that was just the beginning.

Carmen Morcos (Georgetown University) is working with Rights Action in Guatemala, a human rights organization working throughout the country.

In response to various inquiries by parties investigating the human rights abuses carried out during construction of Chixoy Dam, the World Bank conducted a mission in 1996 to examine the status of the compensation and resettlement program. They concluded that the Bank had no remaining obligations, but considerable problems remained with regard to INDE's responsibilities (Guatemalan National Electric Institute).

No comprehensive effort whatsoever has been taken to address remaining problems or consider the damages associated with the massacres. Admitting that they (the World Bank and IDB) had knowledge of the  massacres during construction of the dam would be a form of admission of guilt.

Iain Guest has worked with the International Roma Women's Network (IRWN) and Bosfam, AP's partner in Eastern Bosnia this summer.  He's now in the Middle East, researching the use of information technologies (ICTs) by civil society, and meeting with a number of AP partners in the region.