Sebastien Gasquet's Blog - Post #5

Training in Dialogue and Meditation

Despite it being the summer solstice and the longest day of the year, the sun has still completely disappeared from the Ghanaian sky by 7:00 pm, giving way to the harsh fluorescent lights of the streetlamps and the crackling fires by the street vendors hoping to sell some fufu and chicken or "tilapia" fish. And of course, to headlights of the ceaseless taxis that zip by, honking their horns at every potential customer (which is everyone outside that has a pulse).

This week at work has provided a very interesting twist, as I was invited to attend a workshop organized by WANEP and hosted at a hotel in downtown Accra. The guests: a delegation of representatives from various interfaith, government and civil society organizations in Ethiopia, organized by the Ghana and Ethiopia branches of UNDP. The purpose: to present WANEP's very own methodology in dialogue and mediation skills to these delegates so that they can in turn use them in various conflict scenarios in their own country.

At the workshop's conclusion

The whole event spanned Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and was MC'ed by WANEP's executive director, Emmanuel Bombande. The Ethiopians shared their own experiences of conflict from a country that has more than 200 ethnic groups, as their spokesperson said. Another delegate was an Ethiopian Orthodox priest who headed an cooperative promoting more dialogue between Ethiopia's different religions.

It was the first opportunity to see not only the skills I've been working on since I arrived at WANEP but also that I've been learning during my first year at GSPIA, and it was great to have those "Aha!" moments over the span of that workshop.  I was assigned to take notes during the meetings and to prepare a summary of the proceedings and the major themes that were discussed, so hopefully I can kick my paper-writing skills back into gear after some significant downtime...and as of post time, I am almost halfway through. As a result, I have taken my foot off the PMC pedal a little this week, but we are still keeping a wary eye on the various elections that MAY take place in the next couple months. Looks like the Guinea ones, which I had already helped write a policy brief on, are yet again on hold after some opposition supporters got roughed up. I now realize how much of a world of difference there is on a political level between Ghana and next door neighbors like Togo and Cote d'Ivoire...

Kimberly Bennett's Blog - Post #2

Busy Bee

Well, whoops. I sure didn’t blog every week, like I said I would. I meant to, but I’ve been so busy!

Let me just get right into it. I love my internship. It’s super fun, I’m working with some wonderful people, and I feel ok with the whole 9-5 office job setting. As I said in my last post, I am working for Community Justice Project (CJP). CJP is a non-profit legal aid clinic–part of the PA Legal Aid Network. I got my job through the Peggy Browning Fund. Basically, I knew about the Peggy Browning Fund because I applied to the same job last year. Once I knew the anticipated date that they would open up the fellowship applications, I made sure to keep checking the website around that date. Eventually, the fellowship applications opened up, and I applied right away. I was lucky enough to not have to go to an interview, as I had just talked with the attorney there recently because I was applying to another fellowship to work with CJP. It was a smooth process. I am very fortunate.
When I apply to fellowships, scholarships, and jobs, I use a fairly streamlined process. I keep a folder in my Dropbox full of past applications and essays. I keep all my financial information, grade information, resume (I have two different ones), and other relevant information in one folder. That way, when I apply for something, I can pretty much just tweak what I’ve already done. I keep two different resumes for different types of applications. One resume is for public interest jobs, and one resume is for more “corporate” type jobs. Obviously I try to put what my audience wants to see in an application. And it really helps to have a few professors and previous employers that are willing to write good letters of recommendation. That is key. I don’t think I’ve have any of the opportunities I’ve been given if it weren’t for the kindness of those people.

So, that’s how I got the job. I guess I can talk a little about the professional aspect of it and what I do all day long. It is a fairly laid-back office, so I’m lucky that I don’t have to wear a suit everyday or anything like that. There are three full-time attorneys at CJP, plus one attorney who rents office space there. I work specifically with one attorney. She is so nice. Every morning I get there around 8. She does not get there until 10, so I usually have an assignment I am working on still from the day before. We are working on a number of cases for the summer. So, usually my assignments are about one of those cases. I do a lot of research…the attorney will ask me if I can find something out about a law or even to interview the client to get more information. It’s really a lot of “hands on” experience, so I am very lucky for a student. I really enjoy reading depositions. It is like reading a story. And it’s very exciting because you have so much secret information about something!

I have learned a lot about immigration and employment law issues. CJP has a lot of clients that are immigrants, and luckily with my Spanish, my boss has allowed me to interview many of the clients or sit in on meetings with them.

Well, I don’t have much more to say about that job because I can’t really discuss in detail any of the cases I am working on. For my job at the Center for Latin American Studies, I was able to travel to DC last month for a conference on Latin American studies. It was really fun, and I saw some great panels. My favorite two panels were: one about freedom of the press in Latin America and one about narcotraffickers and women. Both were really cool, and the panelists were very interesting.

Today, the official blog of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUSblog) cited to an article of mine! Over the summer, I volunteered to write two articles a week for JURIST.org, so it’s pretty awesome that I got my name out there on such a known website! I am thrilled!

Well, I must run off to class now. I am taking one GSPIA course over the summer. It is kind of a pain to be taking a class over the summer, but I highly recommend getting as many credits out of the way as you can as soon as you can. At least it frees up some of the time over the school year to take classes that actually interest you, rather than just taking classes you need.

Until next time.