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!