Internship, etc.

Well, we actually didn't go to Kumasi last weekend. We're planning to travel to Mole National Park on Wednesday and Kumasi is conveniently located on the way! So, we decided to save money / time.

The most interesting thing in my life lately has been my internship at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. CHRI is a international NGO dedicated to protecting human rights. Right now the Accra office's main project is the Right to Information Bill, or RTI. The bill, which the CHRI is currently attempting to pass in Ghana's parliament is aimed at increasing the government's accountability to citizens. The bill would revamp the government's current system of record keeping and make all government records public. This would greatly reduce corruption in the government, as well as make officials accountable for human rights violations which have previously occured at their hands. Working at CHRI, I've learned about various cases of horrendous human rights abuses (kidnapping, forced labor, for example) that have been committed by police officials and swept under the rug by government officials. Here's a link to CHRI's website concerning RTI: http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/ghana/ghana.htm.

I've really enjoyed working at the initiative so far. I've been able to help publicize RTI as well as compile evaluations for the workshops held to teach Ghanaians about the bill. I'll also be helping write the initiative's annual report, which is an important publication for any NGO that documents a year's worth of activities, budgets and projects. My favorite project I'm undertaking at the initiative is designing a seminar / workshop for teens about domestic violence and sexual assault. Back at UNC, I work at a rape crisis center where I regularly give presentations to school aged children about sexual assault and violence, and I've been able to use this knowledge in my internship. I've loved working with the people at CHRI, everyone is so dedicated and passionate about their work. I've particularly enjoyed learning from Florence, a human rights lawyer from Uganda. She basically has my dream job, and I've told her I want to sit down with her before I leave to talk about her schooling / career so far.

Other than going to my internship, not much else noteworthy has happened. It's still incredibly hot, I found myself wearing a short dress last night outside and still sweating. Classes have finished and my first exam, traditional African dance, is tomorrow. I'm very tired of the food here and I CANNOT wait to eat my mother's delicious home cooking and Christmas goodies!

I promise I'll write more after Kumasi / Mole!