Monday 26 September 2011

Just another day in parliament...

We planned to sit in on the committee for correctional services but, once again, the schedule was changed at the last moment so we ended up just diving into the nearest committee meeting in an adjoining section of parliament. This happened to be a portfolio committee for International relations and cooperation, which to be honest was not my committee of choice, but nevertheless I thought I’d give it a go.

This particular meeting was an introduction to the new policy before it would be passed in parliament and so many of the terms were discussed in acronym form-making it very difficult to work out what the entire chat was actually about! From what I could understand, the committee persons were discussing a new vehicle to advance South Africa’s foreign policy to address issues such as poverty, under-development and marginalization in Africa and the south.

It seemed as if there was a particular speaker who was proposing a vehicle with the acronym of ‘SADPA’ (unfortunately I did not get the breakdown of this acronym) that would not only be a donor for such African countries experiencing hardships, but it would also act as a development partner.

The SADPA committee looked worldwide at development models in order to create their own and so you can see many models evident within the policy. One committee person asked for examples of how SADPA are helping other African countries. The speaker replied that recently assisting programs have included sending divers over to Tanzania after the sinking of a large ferry has made it impossible for the bodies of loved ones to return to their families. Furthermore, SADPA is also helping with the elections in the Democratic republic of Congo.

Stephanie, Charlotte and I outside the buildings of Parliament.
Another committee member asked how the policy will be accountable: “some people might ask why you are becoming father Christmas…” to which another member added that there is much to be done in South Africa before we should look to other countries on the continent. The speaker responded by pointing out that, for example, South Africa’s involvement in the Congolese elections is wholly needed because there have been implications that would cause a threat to South Africa’s national interests. If cooperation strategies are not extended then migrants and the informal importation of weapons would become a far greater problem here in this country.

It would have been interesting to have followed this line of committee meeting and policy development, but it is also beneficial just to see a snippet of the sorts of oppositional questions parliamentary members put to their fellow members.

Friday 23 September 2011

A long time coming...

Wow, so taking a look at my blog today I realise my last post was nearly two weeks ago. I guess that's representative of just how busy the office has become! There's been a swift turn-over of volunteers in that time; i've had to say goodbye to some pretty awesome people-my good friend Dylan being one of them [what a great guy] as well as Francesco and Francesca, Lise, Anya, Naomi, Georgie, Janine, Prune and Estelle...but we've all made plans to travel around Europe and the greater world to reunite sometime in the future. Fortunately there are also new volunteers that have joined the office-from all four corners of the globe. Some are on a gap year and some taking a career break but, I have to say, it is looking a little more bare here at PAHRO now that the summer rush has calmed down and it's only us non-students taking over.
Some of the great people i've worked with in the past month!


I'm really starting to get a feel for what i'm doing now. This past month [and it is crazy that it has been a whole month already] i've been thrown straight in at the deep end, which is the best way to learn, but it has taken me until this past week to feel comfortable with the work i'm doing. When you get a case assigned or you take a consultation, you've got to know what the next link is in the chain of communication; working with partnership organisations, knowing what our capacity actually is as an NGO, who to contact in certain situations and knowing where to get more resources from should you need them. These are all things that I think i've learnt from past volunteers who have more experience. I think the best piece of advise for newbies is 'don't be afraid to ask questions'.


Most of what I am doing is simply chasing up correspondence previously sent-whether it's an application made to the Department of Home Affairs, or a legal opinion sent to the Human Rights Commission of South Africa. Apparently it takes at least 41 attempts to find out your client's position before you'll actually know whether he will be given an extra two year's refugee status or he'll be turfed out on his ear-which is a little frustrating at first, but what can you do?


Lately i've picked up a lot of fresh cases, where i've actually taken their initial consultation and begin research into their case myself.  I have my boyfriend to thank for this. I take my lunch an hour after most people so I can Skype with Tavis back in the UK, which also seems to be the peak time for client appointments and thus I can hardly say 'No'. One such case involved a husband who wanted to be advised how to serve a notice of divorce on his wife because they had been living apart for two months and he believed her to be living with another man (as well as her being a wicked, wicked woman [he said]). 
I am only truly happy, as you can see, when I have a full in-tray.


Theo (head of PAHRO), being the incredibly diplomatic man that he is, requested that we ask the client's wife to come into the office to make sure that this is something that they both wanted and also to see whether the marriage truly was irreconcilable. I took this second consultation with the wife as Theo couldn't make the appointment. I was shocked to hear from her side that she had actually taken a restraining order against the man who had, one week ago, been sitting across the table from me. She told me that he had become abusive after she had found out about his affairs with other women and proceeded to show me police reports and phone-pictures of her bruises.


Furthermore, out of her briefcase of magic tricks, the client's wife pulled out a pair of underwear [not belonging to her], sex toys and a pornographic movie which she had found under her own bed. I'm sure this was great practice for my poker face-which will surely come in handy later on in my lawyering career but really, used panties on my desk? Wow.


The lesson learnt from this consultation is to see the legal through the smog [that is panties] and simply to advise based on that fact that a) they both desperately seek a divorce [for whatever reason] and b) it's safe to say they can tick the box that says 'irretrievable breakdown of the marriage' with no qualms. I hope my people skills have been somewhat sharpened.


David, vuyo and other volunteers from ISIBANE.
In other news...I have been working on a social justice project that I am very excited about. It's a partnership we have with an organisation called ISIBANE (which means 'the light' in Xhosa) and is run by a gentleman called David Songololo and his local volunteers. I feel this is deserving of its own post so i'll make sure I have that one up and running after the weekend.


At mock trial, us volunteers are starting to reap the rewards as our young mock trialers have been practising their legal case very hard and last week presented it to Maria, head of our legal case department here at the office. We concentrated this week upon public speaking skills and worked one-on-one with the kids to be able to get their confidence built up. I worked with 'Chad-Lee' who is just absolutely adorable. He's 14 years old and such a quiet sweet boy (he actually reminds me of my youngest brother). He always comments on how my outfit looks nice and then stares at my shoes for about 20 minutes-but he really is just such a bright, intelligent and polite little man! 
Me working with Chad-Lee and Noah, for the defense counsel.


By the end of the session, everyone was on a complete high. Our mock trialers were transformed into passionate public speakers-accompanied by hand gestures and great eye contact to boot. It's less than two weeks now until we do the real thing at the Wynberg Magistrates Court in front of all the parents so i'll keep you updated!







Monday 5 September 2011

My first week at the office...


It’s been a really great week at work. My caseload has increased so I finally feel like I’m not just pretending I have work to do. I now have six cases, take part in two social justice programs and am conducting research on the side for Theo into ‘Ukuthwala’ (the abduction of young girls to endorse marriage negotiations).

On Thursday I had my first client consultation. Let’s just call the client ‘Albert’. Albert came to the office seeking to try to remedy a mistake made by the Department of Home Affairs regarding the stated place of birth on his ID booklet. His is a Congolese man from the Republic of Congo, but the ID booklet says that he was born in the ‘Democratic Republic of Congo’-an entirely separate country just next door. The DHA, however, do not recognise that there are two Congos and thus the problem begins. This will be my first case from the very beginning, so I’ll keep you guys updated.

I also have cases involving the bringing of a divorce, application for refugee status and the division of property upon being granted a divorce. It’s all pretty interesting actually-and the good thing is, anything you don’t understand you can just research in your own time at the office. One of the other girls on the project has a similar situation to that of my ‘eviction’ case, so we’re going to spend the rest of today prepping before meeting up with our clients and advising them at the Lavender Hill law office tomorrow…I’ll also let you know how that goes.

As far as the ‘social justice’ side of things go (projects out in the community), the mock trial group is also ticking along well. The project invites young children (ages 12-14 or thereabouts) to engage in an after-school club with us every Tuesday and Thursday at the YMCA for an hour or so. During the workshop, we teach them about court procedure and use scenarios to introduce such elements as witnesses, evidence, and case law precedent. The aim is then, once we have practised enough, to get the children together in the Magistrate’s Court to act out a mock trial and even have their parents come to watch.

The project is extremely rewarding-there are only seven or eight children and about eight or nine of us interns so there is every opportunity for one-on-one work in a kind of ‘mentor’ capacity throughout the trial simulation. Ahsan is the creative one amongst us volunteers-he has written the scenarios on more than one occasion, and they include such characters as Mrs Stern [the strict teacher accused of exhibiting corporal punishment on a student] and Shaggy and Sean Paul [two Rastafarian men accused of consuming drugs for non-religious purposes]. The kids find it easier to work through and less pressure on them if we add a little light-heartedness to the mix.

Last week was my first week at Bonnytoun (youth offending prison for boys) and I was lucky that it happened to be the week that a huge soccer tournament was set up and mini-games so that we could coach the boys and encourage them in their sport. Usually, the volunteers that go to Bonnytoun engage the boys in workshops where they can talk about issues such as race, gender, attitudes towards crime, future aspirations, etc. but the boys had specifically asked to take a break from this in order to do some bonding with the volunteers in a different way.

Marco, an Italian volunteer, was very popular with the boys-a sort of big brother figure whom they were quick to perform their exclusive handshake with and welcome back to the group. It was really great to see what a welcome they put on for us all. About 30-40, 15-18 year-old young men all in one big field enclosure gathering around and asking for our names. Some hugged us and others didn’t come too close but smiled and were happy to have some sort of attention.

One of the boys introduced himself as ‘Jessi’ and was pleased to find out my own name. “Jessi and Josie” he said, “we go together well-my English girlfriend!” You can tell they mean you no harm by their joking and jessi proceeded to advise me of how to protect myself if I were to be approached by someone who wanted to take my belongings. Of course, Jessi only knew this because that was what he was in for-the mugging of a young girl right here in Cape Town. And yeah, it can be a little un-nerving at first, knowing that some of these boys have been accused of extremely grave crimes-some even rape and murder-but you have to think, if the workshops are successful for only one boy out of the 40, then it’s worth our time to talk openly with them about alternatives to crime.

I didn’t have time to visit the Bonnytoun boys this week, what with the bigger case load and mock trial on the same day, so I left a message with my roommate to say hi to Jessi for me and apologise that I couldn’t make it. Jessie sent me a message through Charlotte to say that his trial was due to be on the next Monday, which is quite sad really, when you think the chances are more than likely that he will be charged and when he is he will either be moved to the other side of the prison [away from where we work] or, as he is approaching 18, he is morel likely to be sent to ‘Polesmore’-a prison so rife in male to male rape that it soon becomes a way of life for the new kid on the block.

I heard that the Bonnytoun visit was quite eventful this week. During the workshop, a pen was taken and not returned-which is against prison regulations and contrary to the agreement that we have with the prison as well. Apparently, it is the ink that is highly regarded by the inmates, since this is how they draw their own tattoos (which they are very proud of and won’t hesitate to show you). Jessie explained to me last week that there are gang tattoos which one can earn depending on the crimes you have committed: ‘26’ represents ‘money’, ‘27’ ‘a knife,’ and ‘28’ is for ‘gang-members’.

Volunteers present that day told me that once the pen was stolen, Lyndon, our project co-ordinator, waited 20 minutes for its return before telling the group that they were leaving because it showed a total lack of respect. During our IRM meeting on Friday, Theo (overall project co-ordinator and the man at the top) made an interesting point-that next week’s visit would be fundamental in laying down the relationship between the office and the boys at Bonnytoun. If we want them to see us as equals, then they must also treat us with as much respect. I will not be able to visit Bonnytoun this week either, as I will be in Lavender Hill for the law office hours, but I hope to hear how the meeting went.

This week there was also an open seminar up at the University of Cape Town, which looked into HIV incidence in more recent years. The seminar was a little more complex and mathematical than I could understand-but there were a few interesting facts that I was able to pick up. The presentation focused mostly upon two studies: the ASSA 2003 study (by the Actuarial Society of South Africa) and the STI/HIV study. The spokesperson was actually from the university’s ‘Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research’ (CIDER), which looks at past trends and uses them to mathematically evaluate the likelihood of events in the future.

It was interesting to find out that between 2001-2009 there has been an overall global reduction in HIV incidence, which includes a decline both Africa and Asia, but that there has been a 25% increase in incidence in North Eastern Europe [according to the study]. The presentation went into some detail as to how much of this decline has been due to an increase in condom usage, and how much is attributable to expanding access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and access to testing. According to both studies that were compared, condom usage has increased from virtually 0 to 300-400 million sales-and although ART is thought to have a modest impact more recently it is thought that it will have a more significant impact later on.

I did, however, get caught in a bad rain storm that day up at UCT, so I ended up spending most of the weekend in bed with a bad cold…giving me more time to write this mammoth blog. I am glad I got to sit in on a seminar at the university though-it was nice to feel like a student once again and the campus is very beautiful, with ivy crawling up the red brick of the buildings that slope into the bottom of Table Mountain. Pretty neat.