Week 2: Researching, Writing, and Monumenting!
This week was pretty busy, despite having most of the office empty. It seems like every day a different field worker is heading off to a different country. One minute I am having a conversation with someone, and the next she is telling everyone she will see us when she is back from Lebanon. I hope to continue having conversations with different people in the office on their various travel experiences. My direct supervisor was in Bosnia all week, but that did not stop us from having plenty of work to do. After finishing my project on money laundering in Bangladesh, I got started on writing a report about an assessment NCSC conducted on Trinidad and Tobago's Legal Aid and Advisory Authority (LAAA). The LAAA is a longstanding organization in Trinidad and Tobago that provides legal aid, advice, and representation to those with limited financial means. NCSC assessed the organization to help with the integration of a new case management system that was to be implemented to reduce case backlogs and unnecessary delays. NCSC discovered that each attorney was signed 50 cases at a time, without any additional support to help with document filings and factual investigations. Therefore, creating a new case management system for the LAAA was imperative so the attorneys may receive the proper resources and support to provide the best representation for their clients.
After finishing the Trinidad and Tobago report, I quickly got started on a report on human trafficking in Jamaica. Many vulnerable populations in Jamaica are forced into labor and sex work. NCSC assisted the Government of Jamaica to combat this issue by providing workshops for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges to better investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate human trafficking cases. Overall, I really enjoy writing these reports because not only do I learn about different issues occurring in so many countries, but I also learn how NCSC works to combat these issues and provide assistance.
Other than researching and writing all week, I spent a lot of time with the other interns. Each of us come from very different backgrounds, and I love getting to know them and learning about their life experiences. We all met for lunch one day at this Indian restaurant across the street. It was my first time trying Indian food, and I absolutely loved it. It's hard to find places like that in the Midwest so my experiences in trying foods from different cultures is not as expansive as I would like it to be.
I ended the week with doing typical tourist activities- seeing the monuments! I had seen all of the monuments before, but a friend of mine who is also interning in DC this summer had not so we went for the day. Despite the sweltering heat, we managed to see everything in the National Mall. It was a nice way to end the week before getting back to work. Monday we are going to the Supreme Court for a lecture so stay tuned for that!
Please enjoy these pictures that are proof I do more in DC than just work! :)
