So I am finishing my second week of my new internship at CEJIL, and I´m not sure what to think. The description of the internship on their website sounded perfect:

Legal interns are paired with a CEJIL staff attorney and are actively involved in three areas of work: the Legal Defense Program, the Training and Dissemination Program, and the Campaign to Strengthen the Inter-American System Interns will collaborate with his/her tutor in the work on cases before the Commission and the Inter-American Court. This could include researching the case background and precedents, helping to draft and edit briefs, attending hearings, developing legal arguments, and communicating with client NGOs.

So far I have been given two projects, one which involved reading and writing summaries of court decisions, and one final review of a translated report. I haven´t really talked to to any of the lawyers about the specific work they do, and from what I hear from the other interns who´ve been here longer, that doesn´t ever happen.

While I am totally thrilled just to have some official place to come from 10 to 6 to give structure to my day, it´s starting to feel similar to what happened at the other NGOs - that I am here not doing very much, and that they see coming up with projects for me to work on as more of a chore than it´s worth. At lunch yesterday the director was looking at one of the evaluations a previous intern left, and said one of the most common complaints from the interns was that they didn´t get to interact much with the attorneys or be involved in the cases. She wasn´t sure what to do, she said, because she doesn´t have time to constantly be explaining her job to new interns, and can´t guarantee that each intern will be here right when there is a court date.

I do understand that managing and training interns is a lot of work - I had to do a lot of that during my time at NIJC. But if you are well-organized ahead of time, they are a great resource to utilize - three months of free labor by the best and the brightest law students from around the world. From the description on the internet it seems like that is understood by the CEJIL in general, but in this office it´s as if they haven´t even read it.

I´m considering suggesting to the director that I can help her organize the interns here, since I´ve done it before, or even just help to implement the program they already have. It would be harder than at NIJC, since I don´t know the organization that well, but if their problem really is that they don´t have the time, I have all the time in the world for the next six months here.

We´ll see what happens - from my experiences at the MEDH, the CAREF, and now here, I´ve learned that the concept of using volunteer labor here is totally different than in the US, in spite of the fact that the NGOs seem equally overworked. If the CEJIL doesn´t want to keep me, I´ll have to find something to do for the next six months. I´m considering just doing as much travelling as possible while I have the time - I´m tired of knocking on doors of NGOs only to have them tell me they don´t have anything for me to do. I hear Brazil is nice..

New Internship!

It is almost Christmastime here, and it is so weird to be walking down the street in a tank top past all the plastic Christmas trees, tinsel, and oversized Santa dolls in full red snowsuits. It seems that much of the American and Western European Christmas imagery didn’t get adapted to the climate here in the Southern Hemisphere.

Everyone here is busy taking tests, giving presentations, and pulling together budgets for the end of the year, and making plans for summer vacation. And I, who am usually up to my ears in Nothing To Do, finally have a real internship! Last week I started as a legal intern at CEJIL, or the Center for Justice and International Law. CEJIL is an NGO that works with the Inter-American System for the protection of human rights, which includes the Inter-American Commission and Inter-American Court on Human Rights. I am currently learning a ton about international law in general and the Inter-American Court in particular. To give a quick overview: most of the countries in the Organization of American States (not including the US and Canada, of course) signed the American Convention on Human Rights, a treaty that covers basic protections like the right not to be tortured, prohibition of slavery, and the right to a fair trial. If some individual or group of individuals in one of the member states are victims of human rights violations, they can bring the case before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights. The Commission will consider the information presented by the individual or NGO bringing the complaint, as well as the State being petitioned against. The Commission can make recommendations to the State and give a certain time frame for them to be completed. If the State doesn´t comply, the Commission may then take the case to the Inter American Court, which has the power to deliver a sentence which may include a change of policy, public apologies, or monetary and other forms of reparation. At first it surprised me that any given country, if it was going to commit human rights abuses in the first place, would then be willing to comply with a sentence that required apologies and millions of dollars in fines. It´s not like you can send a country to prison for not obeying international laws. However, what people here have explained to me is that international law has a great deal to do with political and economic pressure from the international community. If you´re a poor Latin American country dependent on foreign aid, you are much more likely to comply with such a sentence if your alternative is economic sanctions by the rest of the world. This also explains why the US didn´t sign the American Convention on Human Rights - we don´t have to. Being an economic and military superpower makes it really difficult for the international community to hold the US accountable for the (multiple, serious) human rights violations it commits.

BUT, it is heartening to see the power of international law to hold at least some countries responsible for their actions. My specific project as an intern is to research jurisprudence on the rights of indigenous peoples. That basically means I read court decisions and write summaries of them so that the lawyers have quick access to the most important legal precedents without having to read every case. CEJIL is involved in almost all of the cases brought before the Inter-American Court, and also conducts trainings of legal service providers throughout Latin America. The research I´m doing will be consolidated into a manual to use for trainings for indigenous rights groups in the region. Supposedly I am going to be here for a month - from December 10th to January 11th - but I´m hoping that if there´s space and they want to keep me, I´ll be able to continue here, even if it´s on a part-time basis.

It’s been so long since I’ve written that I hardly know where to start! First of all, since several people have asked, a work update: I am no longer working with the MEDH. As I mentioned in my last entry, there wasn’t really much for me to do as an intern, and though I was hopeful that I would be able to get more involved with the organization as time went on, they were never able to give me any sort of projects or activities. So my schedule is still very flexible, but I am accumulating more substantive activities in a variety of different places. For example: I spent several days last week putting together materials for a conference the CAREF held on human trafficking, and this week will be going to the office of the Christian Student Movement to help with translation and bookkeeping. I do some individual English tutoring, and once a week I take care of two adorable little girls.

Additionally, this week I went to my first workshop at the Puerta Abierta. Puerta Abierta, or the Open Door, is a day center for women who are homeless and/or involved in prostitution. From 4-8 pm, Monday through Friday, women can come to the center and attend workshops on everything from knitting to Bible studies to music therapy. They can shower and do laundry, and childcare is available during the workshops. The center is run by the Hermanas Oblatas Del Santísimo Redentor, an order of nuns originating from Spain who work specifically with women involved in prostitution. For now, I am attending some of the workshops and getting to know the women, and after the New Year I may begin teaching a workshop once a week. Apparently some of the women have expressed a desire for an English class, which I have experience with, and perhaps a creative writing workshop, which I have no experience teaching but am really excited to try!

I also want to try to give a sense of what it is like here, aside from the photos I’ve already posted, but it’s difficult because so many things here are so different! So here are some of my random observations after my first few months:

The pace of life here is much more relaxed, which is great from a social perspective. Everything takes much longer, but it’s because you have to sit down, chat, drink mate, and convivir whenever people get together. This means you have lots of time to get to know each other, but don’t expect to be able to run five or six errands in one afternoon…

Transportation is an issue, as in any big city. Everyone who drives a motorized vehicle – buses, taxis, cars, motorcycles – is CRAZY. Seriously. Crossing the street is always an adventure, and while pedestrians technically have the right-of-way, I have spent enough time dodging oncoming cars to not want to put that theory to the test. I read somewhere that traffic accidents are the #1 cause of death in Buenos Aires and that doesn’t surprise me – there is always an accident, a construction zone, or a protest or demonstration in the street making traffic that much more complicated.

Another transportation issue is that the colectivos, or city buses, only run on coins. Therefore, no one ever has any coins, because they are all trying to save them for the bus ride home. It turns into a battle every time someone needs to make change in the grocery store. I have learned to lie through my teeth, politely insisting, “No, I’m sorry, I don’t have a cent” whenever a store clerk asks me for correct change. They know I’m lying; they do it too; it’s a matter of who can hold out the longest.

Visually, Buenos Aires is very green, now that winter is over. I am fascinated by the amount of huge green trees that line the streets, even in the most densely populated areas. Is this what American cities looked like before Dutch Elm disease? There are parks and plazas everywhere, as well as – to my delight – carousels! This is a city FULL of carousels – they are almost as common as playgrounds! Someday I’m going to spend an entire day wandering around the city taking pictures of all the carousels I can find.

Earlier this week, a friend of my housemate Mileny was in town, and I did the tourist thing with her all day. We went to the MALBA, or Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires, and wandered around Recoleta, one of the fanciest areas of Buenos Aires, taking pictures of everything. We also ate some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had – if you ever have the chance to try Blackberry Malbec with Dulce de Leche gelato, I highly recommend it! Here are some of our photos:





Yes, the ice cream really was that good...

The MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires:

Evening in Recoleta:

UN MONTON de fotos!

Margarita and Sylvia, from a defensoria on the outskirts of Buenos Aires:


The defensoria bulletin board:


Margarita with Sylvia's baby:




These photos are from a trip to Cordoba, a city about 8 hours from Buenos Aires. I originally went for a national women's conference that was taking place there, but after some communication issues with the MEDH, I never ended up finding it! However, I spent the weekend with my friend Eva Yoder from Earlham, and we toured the city and the surrounding countryside. I highly recommend the Cordobese alfajores, which are cookies made from corn flour and filled with fruit jam or dulce de leche.

A scenic overlook on our day trip into the sierras:


The yellow monument marks the EXACT CENTER of Argentina!




We drove around the sierras in the morning with Eva's friend Lucas, and then spent the rest of the afternoon on his friends' boat, drinking mate and learning to tie knots:


The plaza in the center of Cordoba:





I was trying to take a picture of the jacarandas blooming all over the city, but this little guy really wanted his photo taken, so he posed with them.


"El Buen Pastor" used to be a women's jail, and has since been converted into an art gallery/shopping center/community space.



We toured an exhibition of photographs of the building before it was renovated, which included graffiti and poems of the women inmates:

"El Buen Pastor: en este lugar perdi la mitad de mi vida, mi madre, y de este color fueron mis lagrimas. Si estas a tiempo, no vuelvas mas!"
(The Good Shepherd: in this place I lost half my life, my mother, and this was the color of my tears. If you still have time, never come back!)

"La escuela es la calle, la universidad es la carcel"
(The streets are the school, the jail is the university)




Photos from a weekend in Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay. I have to renew my tourist visa every three months by leaving the country, so I took the ferry across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay. Colonia was practically empty, maybe because it was Mother's Day weekend here, but Mileny, Michaela and I had a lovely and peaceful weekend.


Barrio Historico:

Colonia is famous for its cobblestone streets:



Anthropologie, eat your heart out:












"Che, boluda..." (Mile and I practicing our Argentine hand gestures)

Instead of a job with regular hours and tasks, what I am beginning to accumulate is a loose network of affiliations and activities with various organizations. I am going a couple of afternoons a week to the defensorías, or women’s workshops, in the barrios outside the city, with a woman from the MEDH. Last week I had an interview with the CAREF (Comisión Argentina por el Refugiado/Argentine Commission for Refugees), another ecumenical organization people from the Mennonite Church put me in touch with. The CAREF does a lot of work with victims of trafficking, which is apparently a big problem here in Buenos Aires, and I may be able to start doing some accompaniment for some of their clients when they need extra help. I was hoping for something with a more concrete schedule, but I’m beginning to think that this is not going to change. This seems to be the way things work here anyway – everyone has two or three part-time jobs while finishing a degree or doing post-graduate work. Amazingly, people still seem way less busy and stressed out than in the United States. I am trying to take advantage of this relaxed pace while finding enough activities to keep me from getting bored.

In terms of entertainment, there is no lack of things to do and see if you can pay, and now that it’s getting warmer, there are a lot of free events and activities for those who can’t. Last week I got to go with a couple of friends from the MEDH to a concert by León Gieco, a famous Argentine folk singer. He started out writing protest songs during the dictatorship in the 70s, and has maintained a good relationship with the human rights community here ever since. The show was at Luna Park, one of the biggest music venues in the city, and the MEDH got free passes for seats in the third row! We were sitting right behind some of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo and other famous human rights activists whom León recognized before the show. Needless to say, it was a big deal. ;)

A murga, or drum group, that performed during the intermission:


León Geico, then and now:





At the concert:



One of his most famous songs is called Solo Le Pido A Dios, or “all I ask of God.” These are some of the lyrics, with translation:

Sólo le pido a Dios
que el dolor no me sea indiferente,
que la reseca muerte no me encuentre
vacío y solo, sin haber hecho lo suficiente.

Sólo le pido a Dios
que la guerra no me sea indiferente,
es un monstruo grande y pisa fuerte
toda la pobre inocencia de la gente.

(All I ask of God
Is that suffering does not leave me indifferent
That parched death does not find me
Empty and alone without having done enough.

All I ask of God
Is that war does not leave me indifferent
It is a huge monster that tramples down
All the poor innocence of the people.)

Food

While I'm trying to get my internship figured out, I'm learning to enjoy my role as ama de casa. I joined a gym, (where I have a fitness instructor named Fabio!), and spend my mornings cleaning the house and going grocery shopping. I made friends with the woman who works in the bakery a couple of blocks away, and when she heard that I was having a hard time getting used to Argentine food, she offered to teach me to cook. This is her recipe for milanesa, the simplest and most common way to cook meat here:

Beat two eggs with Provencal spices (dried garlic and parsley), and fresh minced garlic, if you like. Meat for milanesa is generally thinly sliced beef or chicken fillets - dip one of the fillets in the egg mixture, and roll it in breadcrumbs. Cook in a hot oven for approximately five minutes on each side. Serve with lemon to squeeze over the top.

This is a recipe that one of the ladies at church gave me, after she made it for our community meal last month. It's rich and filling, great for cold weather:

Guiso de Lentejas

500g lentils
200g pancetta (thin-sliced Italian bacon)
3 chopped onions
1 red chili, minced
2 chorizos, cubed (Argentine chorizo is more solid and less spicy than the Mexican kind)
2 potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, cubed
2 vegetable buillion cubes
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak lentils in 1 liter of water for 4 hours. Saute the onion and chili in oil in a large pot. Add the lentils with the water, carrots, chorizo, pancetta, vegetable cubes, and salt and pepper, and boil for 15 minutes. Add the potatos and boil for 15 minutes more. Serves 6.


I went to my first asado last weekend, on the first nice spring day of the year. The church has a lovely back patio with plants, tables, and a parrilla, or outdoor grill. We spent the afternoon drinking mate and eating delicious Argentine meat, and came home smelling like barbeque.

waiting...

I've been here almost a month now, but it doesn't feel like nearly that long. I'm getting used to the language and the city, but I still feel like I'm waiting around for something to begin, in a more official sense. While this may be a greater existential issue I'll eventually have to deal with, for right now it mostly has to do with my internship.

I spent the first three weeks in the office, reading materials from their library and listening to people's conversations about the work they were doing, but without having any particular assignment. I've been able to attend a couple of talleres, (trainings or workshops) for the women in the barrios associated with the MEDH, but that has so far taken up about one day a week.

I am trying to adjust to a slower pace of life and different expectations, but also get involved in as many other activities as possible, so that I'm not just in the house all day. This week I will be starting a course in Argentine political history at the Universidad Popular Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, which I am excited about. The Madres are a very activist organization, and I'm pretty sure I'll get a perspective in this class that it would be hard to find in a typical university in the US.

Here is a link to their website:
http://www.madres.org/univupmpm/univumpm.asp

...and a photo (actually one of Laura's photos from when she was here):


I've also been exploring my neighborhood, and one of the first things I ran into a couple of blocks away from my house was this:





The sign says, "On this site, the clandestine detention, torture and extermination center 'El Olimpo' functioned from August 16, 1978 to the end of January, 1979." The memory of the time of the dictatorship is still very present everywhere here.

pictures!

El Hogar:


Las chicas de la casa:


Mileny y yo



Veronica



Laura



Rocio



Bety y yo



Rosie