Change is Coming.

After a 20-hour long flight, I have arrived in Cape Town. I bullied my body into adjusting to the time difference which was surprisingly not very difficult, sleeping most of the flight likely helped immensely.  I was the second summer intern to arrive at the Legal Resources Center here in Cape Town and we are expecting five more in the next few weeks.  And we have hit the ground running. 

In the office, we have a handful of attorneys and in the Intern corner we have Nuhaa, a law grad from Cape Town who is the Senior Intern, and Cole and I.  Cole is from the University of Michigan and we are both attempting to settle in while pushing through the journal write-on competition.   Nuhaa does a little of everything while Cole is a land rights intern and I am tethered to the education team.  My Supervising attorney is the Regional Director of the Center here in Cape Town. 

On Wednesday, we sat down and went through all the projects she is doing and that's when this experience became a reality to me.  It's surreal that I am here doing incredible work and I am most grateful to William and Mary and especially Professor Warren for this opportunity.  In our meeting, we discussed the 5-year education plan they have been taking on for the past 4 years.  I was given an allotment of reading materials in order to find which initiative spoke to me.  I am leaning towards LGBT and education in SA and improving literary levels in Quinta 1-3 schools.

We are also involved in a project labeled Democratizing Big Tech which seeks to research the filters big tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok utilize in regard to xenophobia and nationalism.  Due to the high unemployment rates and refugees entering South Africa, there is a rising nationalist sentiment being spread online usually using the hashtag #PutSouthAfricaFirst. 

 

I am excited to be working alongside such strong legal minds and I am excited to see where these projects lead.

Till next week!