4th day at work

Morning All,

Today is my 4th day at work, and I am settling in nicely. Since Monday, I have made 2 friends, Victoria and Ursula. Victoria started on the same day that I did, but she is not an intern. Rather she lives in Pretoria, just graduated from law school, and will be working here on a more permanent basis. She's very friendly, and she and her boyfriend are very big rugby fans. Interestingly, she has shared with me that while all people do not necessarily share a common sense of loyalty to their country (RSA), they are seriously loyal to their teams. She and her fiance' cheer for the Blue Bulls, and she has invited me to come to a game with them, but she says that to fit in, I must learn some Afrikaans cuss words :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulls_(rugby) Because Victoria is from Pretoria, she's familiar with the area, and took me to the old and new courthouse a few days ago. The new courthouse has a modern feel to it, built to accommodate several cases going on simultaneously. By comparison, the old courthouse is built for grandeur's sake, not for practical purposes. It houses only 4 or 5 courtroom, each of which are rather small (very tall ceilings, but not wide. There are just a few rows of seating in the back of the courtroom for observers, (maybe 3 rows). There's no jury box because they very infrequently use juries, but when a party does request a jury, they bring in seating. The room is painted white with a rosy carpet, columns gilded at the bottom, and thick, dark brown wood tables, chairs, judge bench, ... A very interesting curiosity is this hole in the floor in the back of the room. It is surrounded on all four sides by wood, and in this hole there are steps leading downstairs. Apparently, the courthouse used to be where they kept a good many of the prisoners who would walk up those stairs and *poof* they appeared in the courtroom. Victoria says that traditionally, they were not allowed to sit during the entire trail, but had to either stand in that box or at the podium when testifying. Victoria also shared with me that this courtroom we were looking at was where Nelson Mandela had been convicted. We then went downstairs to where the prison used to be. It still had the look of a prison with bars as doors, and a long corridor with rooms branching off, but it had been converted to storage for court transcripts and records. One of these rooms was where they hung prisoners post conviction.

My other friend at work is a woman named Ursula who is Indian, married, and very kind. She works in the same department as me, Refugee Rights, and has asked me to sit in on client interviews. She only started working here within the last year, so I think she remembers what it is like to be new in the office, and we have made plans to go to Johannesburg next weekend, and perhaps go to the theater or something. As for the work that I am doing ... I am now doing research on the most current information on human rights violations in different African countries. Previously, this might have seemed like busy work to me, but in context, this is the info. that LHR uses to build an asylum application case. For example, because of the wide media coverage and length of the crises in Sudan, applicants from that country have an easier time making a case for asylum. Again, when the genocide was taking place in Rwanda, my boss Paul says that people applying from there had a much easier time just getting their applications rubber-stamped. But what about those cases of persons who have legitimate fear of persecution from places where media attention has not been frequent? How are they to prove the validity of their claim? In this regard, the work of Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Dept. of Religious Freedom, etc. are critically important. They document specific instances of abuse in specific regions of the country, often citing the names of persons involved and charged. This then can be helpful for a making a case for a person in similar circumstances.

For those of you who are interested, here is what our client has to prove in order to be granted refugee status under the S.A. Refugees Act of 1998. They must demonstrate that they are:
1. outside of their home country
2. have a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, social membership, OR
3. whose life, safety, or freedom is threatened due to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or other events seriously disturbing public order.

As for my weekend plans, I'll be joining friends in Centurion (in-between Pretoria and Johannesburg) for church on Sunday and lunch afterwards. I met these friends through a friend at my church in Tuscaloosa. They will shortly be visiting the U.S., so I am traveling down to meet them for church and lunch afterwards.

I hoe you all are enjoying reading these interesting observations as much as I am enjoying having them.
Love, Kristian