2014 Fellows

Community Involvements

September 7, 2014 by lbm316

Leah Mlyn
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante
Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca

After four days in and around Oaxaca City—the vibrant beautiful capital city of the state of Oaxaca—I’ve returned to my hotel room in Juxtlahuaca. Oaxaca City is five hours by van from Jux. I traveled with Adelina, the only other worker in the office in Jux. Our trip included planning for two educational workshops in nearby communities from which migrants originate, numerous introductory visits to the municipal buildings and officials of other surrounding communities, and two meetings with other organizations in the area that also work for the benefit of migrants.

The trip to Oaxaca City was both a whirlwind of new sights and sounds and a complete and well-rounded learning experience. The city, with her colorful short buildings, narrow streets, and huge bustling zocalo (city center) is very different from Mexico City; it has a European laid-back vibe bursting with indigenous culture. It’s even more different from Juxtlahuaca, the small town in which I am living.

I got a thorough, extreme, and intense experience of the type of outreach performed by the Juxtlahuaca office of the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM). CDM’s outreach department is impressive and far-reaching, as both the offices in Mexico City and Juxtlahuaca often take trips to communities with which they have forged relationships—communities they know send many migrants each year to the US to work.

During our trip to Oaxaca City, Adelina and I took collective taxi rides each day to between two and seven communities that are new partners with CDM. Each taxi goes to a different community close to the city and packs in about three to six passengers, who each pay a low fee for the transport. Adelina and I met with municipal officials (the US equivalents to mayors and city officials) to drop off informational materials from our offices, ask them about the current migration patterns in their municipality, and inquire if they wanted to plan any upcoming educational workshops for their community members.

The trip was exhausting and fascinating, with some great successes, such as meeting with a group of men who had recently migrated, who were hanging out outside the municipal building and conducting an impromptu “Know Your Rights” workshop. We also ate a huge delicious meal at the home of a woman in the town where we did a late-night, preplanned “Know Your Rights” workshop. And I will never forget riding in a friendly man’s truck bed to the municipal center where we found a primaria (elementary school) in the middle of their graduation proceedings. “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys was playing!

The trip also presented some failures, such as a cancelled workshop and a missed bus home. I also had difficulty completing the project I started in Mexico City. I had wanted to speak with many migrant women in focus groups and small groups to gather their opinions on the current materials CDM distributes to them, with the goal of recommending revisions for the next version of these educational tools. But in almost every town we went to, the municipal officials reported that female migration was very low.

Female migration from Oaxaca to the US is different from migration from many other parts of Mexico to the US, partly because the indigenous cultures still predominate there. Many of the inhabitants of the towns we visited speak indigenous languages and not much Spanish—in fact, less than I do. Oaxacan women migrate less often because their culture dictates they should stay committed to their traditional duties, such as cooking, selling goods and food in the tianguis (Triqui word for “market”), and caring for the children and the home.

We did meet a few migrant women, though, and hearing stories of one woman’s time in the Eloy detention center in southern Arizona made me emotional. I realized it was possible that I had seen her or those she crossed the border with during my activism and studies in that region. Knowing that area well brought me closer to many migrants who I talked with, as many pass through Tucson.

The last few weeks of my internship were busy in the office at Juxtlahuaca but even busier outside of it. Juxtlahuaca celebrates its patron saint, Santiago, every year with a week-long fiesta patronal. The entire town essentially takes off from work, fills the streets with cut paper decorations, and practices some of the most beautiful and unique traditions I’ve ever witnessed. I watched the guajolotes (basically turkeys) run through the streets and then ate them in a delicious mole at the community kitchen. I watched the traditional dances of the diablos, chareos, and chilolos, which somehow told a story of an ancient Moorish and Catholic battle. I attended parties every night, where I learned to dance to chilenas, norteñas, and cumbias. I was invited into families’ homes, where I celebrated with them till 4 AM, and was even invited back for the fiesta next year.

My experiences in Mexico City and Oaxaca taught me so much about migration, human rights, and the kind of support that organizations like CDM need. I also learned so much Spanish and learned that I love to travel alone and that my passion for these issues and Mexico will continue to bring me to fruitful and productive places, spaces, and times.

Looking Back

September 5, 2014 by hih216

Horatia Hopper
New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties
Sydney Australia

Below is my final blog post. I wrote it many weeks ago but in the midst of working and traveling, it seems I forgot to post it online! I am now back in New York, and looking back on my experiences in Australia, I can say that my time there was very informative and extremely necessary. I was truly able to examine the implementation of human rights. I also gained an inside look at how organizations such as the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) function, as well as the logistics of maintaining such organizations. I cannot believe how quickly it all went by. What an amazing time I had! I am so excited that I can fully present my findings to the fellowship advisory committee and the other fellows in October.

My work has significantly changed since I arrived in Sydney, and there are a few exciting developments to report! Firstly, after a discussion with my boss and the other interns, it was decided that all interns should work out of the head office in the city. So, for the last few weeks, I have been stationed in the office. This has been a really great change because it has allowed me to work more closely with the other interns in the office and really get the feel for the way a volunteer-run organization operates out of its home base.

The nature of my work has also changed. I now have a central project which focuses on Asylum Seeker policy in Australia, as well as a new project I will be starting on Monday regarding the recent ruling in the EU court on the right to be forgotten—that is, the right of an individual to petition a search engine (such as Google) to remove their name/information from a search result if that information is outdated or untrue. This project is going to be quite exciting, as I will be working closely with one of NSWCCL’s committee members, who is a prominent philosopher.

In addition to my main project, I have been working on smaller sub-projects. These have included responding to media articles or current events and writing short pieces for the website. I also implemented a spreadsheet for NSWCCL for them to keep track of intern projects and information. This has greatly helped internal communication and has made it easier for the interns to collaborate with each other.

After being at the internship for some time now, I have begun to closely examine how NSWCCL views human rights and how they learn the best way of gaining social justice for all. The organization takes a legal approach to a lot of the problems they address. For instance, their condemnation of acts such as privacy violations (e.g., data collection or phone monitoring) is shaped by the ways in which the government has broken the law. This is extremely interesting because there is a delicacy with which certain issues must be handled, and it showed me the channels that NSWCCL must go through to be taken seriously.

This has prompted me to think about how human rights violations are easier to confront when there are issues of legality behind the violation. I was surprised at just how legal this branch of human rights work was, and understanding this has led me to further consider law school.

The international focus of my work has manifested in ways that I didn’t necessarily anticipate or expect. For example, I thought I would be working directly with asylum seekers in Australia and around the world. I have instead focused on comparing the rights of asylum seekers here with those living elsewhere. Similarly, when looking at issues of privacy, I have been asked to compare Australian right to privacy legislation to that of the UK and the USA. It seems that this channel of international human rights work functions largely in a legal sphere as well.

With only two weeks left at my internship, I’m shocked at how quickly the time has gone by!

Networking

August 25, 2014 by dlk361

David Krebs
The Human Rights Advocacy Centre
Accra, Ghana

Aside from my work with the Human Rights Advocacy Centre, my goal for the summer was to build a social network comprised of men who have sex with men (MSM), sexual minorities, as well as leaders and experts in the field of sexual minority rights.

The challenge was determining how to build a network of MSM in a country where gay men and sexual minorities are highly stigmatized and one’s status as “gay” can make one the object of extortion, blackmail, and violence.

One method for meeting individuals was using social networks. I have several friends in Uganda who, in light of the defunct (currently) anti-homosexuality bill, saw an upsurge in usage of gay dating sites, mainly Grindr, Manjam, Gaydar, and Gay Romeo. The problem with using such apps or websites as a networking tool is that men who are active on these sites are looking for hookups and occasionally transactional sex.

A second problem with using gay dating sites is the presence of “fake-gays.” These profiles are set up with the intent of meeting MSMs to extort them for money or inflict violence, knowing that the victims, with their status as sexual minorities, are unlikely to report abuse to the police, who pose a separate threat altogether.

Facebook proved to be a safer option, since individuals could create digital safe spaces to host discussions, post photos, and flirt. Several individuals I met discussed having an “alter-ego” profile. While a primary profile maintains appearances for family, coworkers, and straight friends, this secondary subversive profile often has anonymous profile photos and gives one the freedom to openly discuss sexual desires and intimacies. I found this to be an apt analogy to the term coined by Du Bois–“double consciousness”–referencing the multifaceted conception of self. MSM in Ghana are constantly trying to reconcile the multiple cultures that comprise their identity.

Though using Facebook to meet and contact MSM proved to be a useful tool, it did not efface concerns about why I, a white outsider, would want to meet up with other MSM. This led to a fundamental problem when it came to discussing sexual taboos, as acknowledged by Richard Parker:

“There is perhaps no area of social research that poses greater challenges than the study of intimacy and intimate experiences…[T]opics such as gender identity, sexual desire and practices, emotions and affaires of the heart…[have been some of] the least developed areas of investigation in nearly all the social sciences over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first century.”

Theory v. Practice

August 18, 2014 by jtm357

Tegan Joseph Mosugu
Center for the Right to Health
Garki, Abuja, Nigeria

During the Gallatin Global Human Rights Fellowship dinner, I remember us fellows having a roundtable discussion and raising numerous questions. One previous fellow highlighted the fact that we should not be too strict on the goals that we want to achieve. She added that sometimes what we might have in mind might greatly differ from what actually happens on the ground.

My fellowship at the Center for the Right to Health (CRH) has been completely different from what I expected. Though the organization does a lot of HIV outreach, it has not been focusing too much on the human rights dimension of the epidemic as of late. CRH deemed it more effective to outreach to and counsel individuals on HIV prevention and treatment before challenging the status quo. Although this might seem like an ineffective approach, it actually works. It works because there is a culture of silence associated with the stigma in Nigeria. Only a few of the violations are reported, with the majority going unheard.

With that said, it has been problematic to collect data that can support my research topic: “The Human Rights Status of People Living with HIV/AIDS.” Hence, I decided to do an in-depth organizational analysis of CRH as well as comparative research on what the literature says vs. what is actually happening on the ground. I have started my staff interviews and am excited to see the overall results once I am done with them.

Global health work and advocacy in Nigeria is really not an easy thing. Just outside the CRH premises, there is a signboard for HIV-positive individuals with a number to call for a “possible cure,” based in herbal solutions/traditional practices. As I process this mentally, I ask myself whether or not these practices bar persons with the HIV virus from the right to health.

My research at CRH has also made me ask whether it is worth it to focus on the gamut of human rights or just the right to health. Progress has been made in some states and hospitals when it comes to providing the right to health, but it seems that the government has been adamant about addressing numerous human rights issues.

I have loved my time at CRH because I have been able to realize that theory does not always meet practice in regards to human rights work and international development. My coworkers are also very hospitable and are motivated by the work the organization does. Of all of them, I am inspired most by my superior, Mrs. Vanessa Nwanguma. She is a Columbia-trained international lawyer and the legal powerhouse for CRH. Several of the lawsuits and actions taken by CRH are credited to her commitment to human rights law and public health.

I look forward to being back in New York and discussing and presenting my research findings. Even though the human rights status of people living with HIV/AIDS is not where it should be now, I know that one day the Federal Republic of Nigeria will get there. It takes time, but it starts with a group of people speaking up for the voiceless and powerless!

My Right to Learn: A Core Curriculum for Youth, Co-Created by Youth

August 11, 2014 by kam794

Krystal McLeod
World Education Fellowship
New York, NY

Our ability to learn and our innate desire to be taught is what makes us human. Therefore, we can only assume that learning, like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is in essence an inalienable right. Our country recognizes that all groups, regardless of race, religion, and socioeconomic circumstance, should have the right to learn. Yet, many marginalized groups within its governance still are not equipped with tools to compete competitively against their peers in the classroom. The program I designed for this summer, “My” Right to Learn, has sought to resolve this.

We are different from other programs in that our curriculum is centered around R.E.S.P.E.C.T., a change management resource originated by Dr. Misek-Falkoff, a UN representative of World Education Fellowship). This allowed the students to co-create a learning environment in which they felt comfortable. We also had three rules for our four core classes: 1) there are no wrong answers, 2) keep an open mind, and 3) participation is key. For more information about our course curriculum, see the “My” Right to Learn website and Facebook page.

New York University undergraduate scholars Aarati Cohly (CAS 2016), Olufemi Olalye (CAS 2017), Nakita Mortimer (CAS 2016), and Robert Jackson (Tisch 2016), led our four courses:

“My” Rights centered on human rights in the global society, with “Stop & Frisk” being the main local topic of debate.

“My” Right to Truth examined the social and economic trends facing our communities. This became one of the students’ favorite classes! Touching on topics ranging from inadequate education to disregarded history, our students were encouraged to challenge their current understanding of the truth.

In “My” Right to Literacy, the students actively engaged in reading and discussing texts from both classic and modern literature. In addition, they were taught some of the fundamentals to effective writing and required to complete several writing assignments to increase their writing skills.

“My” Right to a College Education taught the students to organize and attain goals in college readiness.

Each student at the beginning of the program received a personal New York University “dream journal,” which proved to be a way for the “My” Right to Learn team to assess the students’ progress and determine ways to assist them in accomplishing their stated goals and dreams. During each class, the students were given prompts which they would expand upon in their dream journals. Over time, the students took pride in writing in their dream journals, with most pages full by the end of the summer session.

All students also participated in bi-weekly “dream” meetings. These meetings were an opportunity for students to share their progress and their writing in their dream journals. This was one of the most touching parts of the program. Students would open up about the many things they felt were holding them back from accomplishing their dreams.

What proved most powerful for me was that I could relate to many of their stories: experiences ranging from doubting parents to clear financial hardships. In these meetings, I was able to see first-hand the issues that continue to hurt the success of those from low socioeconomic situations. Through my experience with this program, I realized that when students have the support and mentorship needed to equip them with tools to accomplish their future goals and dreams, success is imminent.

This fellowship experience has truly changed my life! Thank you, Gallatin Global Human Rights Fellowship and World Education Fellowship, for allowing me to step foot into my dream!

Rural Kindergartens and International Forums

August 7, 2014 by al3511

Angie Liao
Zhicheng Public Interest Lawyers
Beijing, China

The past few weeks have been a crazy blur of activity. There have been several days I was so busy, I couldn’t leave the office until after 10PM! Yet, if there’s anything this summer has taught me, it’s that when you love and believe in the work you are contributing, extra hours are exponentially less taxing. Still taxing, just much less so.

I won’t flood this post with details about every little thing I’ve been working on. Instead, I’d like to narrow it down to talk about two events at Zhicheng that happened the past two months, in which I was involved. One is a new Zicheng program, the Country Kindergarten Development Program (CKDP), which is relevant to pressing social issues in China and whose execution I found so immensely inspiring.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Zhicheng has a department dedicated to providing pro bono legal services and other assistance to China’s migrant worker population. Here, the term “migrant worker” applies to anyone who leaves his/her province or town and migrates to a bigger city in order to find more job opportunities. To give you some perspective on how many migrant workers in China need service: their population is basically equal to that of the entire United States of America.
The lives of migrant workers in China aren’t easy. They tend to lead transient lives and can often be seen in train stations bringing their belongings from city to city, following wherever the jobs are. Ultimately, almost all children of migrant workers must be left behind in their home provinces or towns.

There are many reasons for this. Most predominant is the financial strain of supporting children when workers move to expensive cities. Migrant workers tend to work time-consuming jobs in factories or the service industry, leaving them no time to look after their children in the cities.
Another reason is China’s infamous hukou household registration system. Under this restrictive system, even if migrant workers can afford to bring their children to the cities, the children can be barred from attending city schools or sitting for local academic exams because their hukou is in another province.

While life can be a struggle for migrant workers, it is just as much or even more so for their children who remain back home. They might be left in the care of their grandparents or other relatives, including older siblings who are still children themselves. Typically their only income source is the money their parents can afford to send home.

Zhicheng’s director, Tong Lihua, conceived the CKDP to outreach to as many migrant workers’ children as possible: through their kindergarten teachers. For abandoned children in rural areas, kindergarten can be a beacon of hope and a singular source of care, nourishment, and of course, education. Kindergarten teachers in rural areas are especially vital to the wellbeing and development of their pupils.

The CKDP was a three-day seminar where educational experts volunteered to give lectures and host exercises. Kindergarten teachers from rural areas all over China were invited to Beijing to receive training on how to best to care for young children and contribute to their lives. Their food and stay was free, giving many of them an opportunity for further education and training that might not otherwise be accessible. Some teachers had never before been to Beijing. One stood on a train for sixty hours to attend the seminar.

teachers standing in a line — Kindergarten teachers receiving program completion certificates from Director Tong

The most incredible part of the seminar for me was the closing ceremonies. After three days of intensive training, discussion, and workshops, the kindergarten teachers all sat in a conference room and simply exchanged stories and sentiments about their role as teachers in poor, rural areas. They shared stories of unimaginable perseverance on the part of themselves and their pupils. I walked away with a better understanding of how much a difference kindergarten teachers make in the lives of abandoned children in rural areas. What a comfort it can be to migrant worker parents to know that someone is looking after their children at home.

Zhicheng hopes to host many more CKDP seminars in the future and to eventually make the program international. I was so proud to witness the work that Zhicheng did with these teachers and was honored to have a chance to meet individuals who work so selflessly for the wellbeing of their students.

The other event I wanted to mention is the Second International Student Forum on Public Interest Law. This was an all-day conference organized and hosted by the Zhicheng interns last month at the China University of Political Science and Law. Both international and Chinese interns presented our comparative research on various public interest issues in China and other countries. My talk focused on child welfare policy around the world and what China can learn from the child welfare successes and failures of different countries. Here’s a picture of me speaking!

I was really proud to be able to share the research I’ve been conducting on the rights of children sanctioned around the world, but I was even more proud to be part of an event that stands for the benefits of further globalizing Chinese society. It’s so important that China maintains dialogue with other countries as it develops its welfare programs and looks to better protect the socioeconomic rights of its enormous population. One of the guest commentators at our forum also mentioned what a vital initiative it is to continue bringing international dialogue into China in any form possible.

Between the research, administrative work, outreach, coordination, etc., that went into organizing and preparing for the forum, the past weeks have been a whirlwind. And this is just an excerpt! My internship ends tomorrow, so when I return to New York I hope to sit down and record more reflections and stories from this experience. It’s been without a doubt the best summer of my life.

And just for fun: a picture of me casually posing on the Great Wall!

HIV/AIDS Work in Nigeria

August 5, 2014 by jtm357

Tegan Joseph Mosugu
Center for the Right to Health
Garki, Abuja, Nigeria

I am now in Abuja, Nigeria, conducting a project on HIV/AIDS. Prior to traveling, I was really nervous about what I would accomplish during these two months. Yet, I knew I needed to be realistic with myself. I set aside all my grand expectations of bringing some sort of massive change to the millions of people living with HIV/AIDS. I also decided to use my internship with the Center for the Right to Health as a steppingstone to HIV/AIDS activism in the future.

It is difficult to approach bettering the lives of people with HIV from an international human rights framework. This is because the vast majority of people believe that HIV/AIDS should be a priority, at least when their governments are able to make it such. In the case of my country, Nigeria, it is hard for people to rally for HIV/AIDS when there are constant power outages, poor roads, and few or no jobs. My host organization navigates the politics of Nigeria and of its locality by staying independent and neutral in its day-to-day operations.

My seminar and independent study this spring really prepared me for my internship. Beforehand, I did not have any sort of focus when it comes to HIV/AIDS. Now, I have a narrow focus and am able to ask specific questions that enable my project to come alive!

However, the part I find difficult is what I anticipated being difficult: the process of wrapping up my summer project. I will need to create adaptive solutions to address the complexities of formulating policies and producing solutions to the issue.

Being in Nigeria is also quite challenging for my work. I want to go and interview individuals in local offices and communities but everyone has priorities, and sometimes my project is not one to them. In addition, I have been unable to interview people because of the nature of the disease in Nigeria and the social implications.

Most of the work I have been doing falls between the lines of support, project proposal, and idea formulation for the Center for the Right to Health. I therefore cannot predict the direction in which my internship is going. However, I do have people on board who are supporting me with my research. It goes to show that sometimes what we have in mind is different from what actually occurs on the ground.

My family and friends have mixed feelings about my project. Some of them are very supportive while others in fact make fun of me. However, those who doubt me in some sense motivate me to produce the best possible work.

I have limited internet here, so until next time…

Welcome to “My” Right to Learn!

August 4, 2014 by kam794

Krystal McLeod
World Education Fellowship
New York, NY

“Raise your hand if you have someone in your life that you can look up to,” I said with hope. As I looked around the room at the twenty students peering back at me, not one hand rose. A few heads even went down. The students noticed it too.

I could not believe what I was witnessing. There sat twenty youth with promise, with more unlocked potential than you can imagine, and not one of them had someone in their lives who had presented the key for them. What was I to do?

It was July 14, the opening ceremony for “My” Right to Learn: Daring to Dream & Doing Your Dreams. I had the privilege of founding this initiative this summer with the help of World Education Fellowship. “My” Right to Learn is an eight-week human rights-based education program geared towards inner-city minority youths in New York City. The program has four core classes: “My” Rights, “My” Right to Truth, “My” Right to Literacy, and “My” Right to a College Education.

Our mission is to develop mindful future leaders who in addition to academic competency possess self-awareness and an understanding of the social and economic trends that affect their communities. The program was also designed to empower youths to set and attain goals ranging from increased literacy to college application readiness and to equip them with the framework necessary to attain their dreams. Unique in its understanding of the interconnectedness of progress and quality education, “My” Right to Learn emphasizes the importance of the human in education and also seeks to provide the marginalized with quality educational tools.

Our opening ceremony was held at one of New York University’s newest research facilities at 12 Waverly Place. The students had arrived promptly at 9:00 am with smiles from ear to ear. Our team of twelve was overjoyed to see a group with such infectious positive energy. We had worked for weeks to prepare this event. Seeing the students so evidently grateful was the reward we all needed.

“This place is amazing!” I heard one whisper to another. I smiled at that, but the next comment would not bring me the same joy: “I can’t believe I’m at NYU. I wish my mom was here to see this.” Ouch. I knew she was commenting on something everyone including our team was wondering: where are their parents? Out of those twenty students, only two parents had come to support them. I was hurt for them, yet I understood why the parents could not be there.

I had spent weeks trying to contact many of them to inform them of their children’s acceptance but had much difficulty. Many of them have no access to email and cannot afford to keep their phones on. Almost all of them are blue-collar workers with jobs that barely pay the bills. Almost all of them come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

I feel for many of the parents. Truth is, all of them wanted and tried to be there but they couldn’t. Though they deeply wanted to support their children, they simply could not afford to miss work.

It is the unspoken truth many families face: the pain of living close to or below the US poverty line. And because the average parent is constantly working, sacrificing to allow their children to have the “right to learn,” they unfortunately cannot be around for their children to look up to them. I understand because only seven years ago, I was that child. Darn it, I am still that child!

As I looked around the room, realizing that no hand was going to rise, I found that I had a few choices. I could decide not to address what was happening. I could switch to the next topic and continue with the ceremony’s agenda. Or I could use this moment to empower those I saw sitting in front of me.

“You have role models now!” I stated with pride. The students’ heads popped up. Excitement beamed from their eyes. “You see,” I continued, “each and every one of the team members are college students that are here to support you, to mentor you and ensure that your dreams and goals for this summer and for life in general are able to be actualized. Don’t think of us as teachers or instructors or mere figures here to tutor you. Think of us as coaches. A collective of individuals ready to guide you past the summer. Coaches that are prepared to challenge you to dream!”

They looked at each other for a few moments before clapping loudly. I smiled.

“Welcome!” I yelled. “Welcome to ‘My’ Right to Learn!”

Mita’s Story: The Beauty of Strength

July 30, 2014 by cvj212

Christine Janumala
Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Even amidst many colorful personalities in Sonagachi, Mita stands out. The first time I saw her, she was wearing a gorgeous green silk sari with stacks of bangles encircling her slim wrists. She struck me with her confidence and fashionability. We spoke briefly about her life after being rescued by the SRBs.

Today, for my independent interview with her, she is wearing a bright pink kameez tunic and jeans. She lacks the traditional Indian trifecta of adornment: two golden earrings and jeweled nose stud. Instead, she has a sandstone ring and a pearl ring. The nails on her left hand are long, very long, and patterned pink. The nails on her right hand, in common Bengali fashion, are trimmed short for mealtime efficiency. Even though she is by all appearances dressed-down, her petite figure’s gestures and grace still distinguish her. Her story reaffirms this dignity, providing a context from which her singular charm seems almost inevitable.

woman standing in doorway — Mita Mondad, 24

Mita, 24, is a singer. Even her laugh is musical as she recounts her desperate desire for fame when she was young. She spent all her time after school at music classes, invoking first the amusement and then the irritation of her family as her dream persisted into adolescence. One day, a family friend told her she could come to Kolkata to continue learning music and so she went. She would work as a maid to pay for her classes. She would live by the talent she loved.

At 16, after years of working as a maid or nanny and singing in her free time, she arrived in Sonagachi to look for work. Unaware that this was a red-light area, she was invited to join “the line” (to enter sex work). Upon arrival, she was brought before Durbar’s Self-Regulatory Board (SRB) members, who described the region and explained what working “the line” entailed.

Mita and the board members openly discussed the risks and dangers of the area, as well as the extensive support that the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee offers. Finally, after three days in a safety home, Mita was asked whether she wanted to return to her family or work in an alternative position (because she was a minor, she would not be allowed to join sex work). After working as a receptionist, then a member of the cultural wing, she now serves as a board member on the very SRBs that rescued her many years ago.

Mita’s refinement comes from many years of singing lessons but her strength is hidden somewhere deeper. My interviews have concerned the counseling services available to women here, and when I ask Mita who she talks to in times of trouble, she answers with a laugh. “No one,” my translator relays with his own smile. “She says she doesn’t need to talk to anyone.” After a little probing, Mita explains that when she was little, before she ran away to follow her singing dreams, she used to talk with her stepmother. “After so many negative reactions,” she says, “I stopped talking. I sang instead.”

Paradigm Shifts and a Lesson in Expectations
My initial expectation as I planned my research was that the support services here would be desperately lacking. The SRBs offer extensive vocational counseling, in the perhaps odd form of helping a woman decide whether or not prostitution is the best fit for her. Considering the abuse that colors many sex-workers’ pasts and the under-addressed issue of child sexual abuse here (see Bitter Chocolate for an exploration of child sexual abuse in India), I assumed trauma counseling would be a great need in this community.

However, if there is a lack of such support, the women themselves don’t feel that way, as Mita and others have expressed. Rather, their community of peer educators, of fellow sex workers, of retired workers, of matronly malkins (madams), of sympathetic babus (regular clients) have been consistently rated as “safe,” “comfortable,” and “understanding.” Of course, this refers only to their perceptions of the community members they choose to speak to, rather than the community at-large. Still, even strong Mita claims that her stoicism regarding her past isn’t due to a lack of ready listeners.

Rather, she takes pride in her strength and determination. Once again, I find myself awe-inspired but this time it is accompanied by a good dose of empathy and surprise. Sonagachi has continued to contradict my expectation of sadness and despair. More importantly, the people I’ve met here have done me the service of complicating my perceptions of mental health, the application of rights, and beauty. Mita exemplifies how a striking personality or a particularly arresting face offer stories and surprise to the sympathetic listener. India has been a constant river of experience and often it’s hard to stop the current to really explore the depths. The challenge is always rewarding, and in the best of circumstances, enlightening.

four women posing outside — SRB board members

Ngala: Interview Process

July 30, 2014 by bmt246

Bailey Theado
Goods for good
Lilongwe, Malawi

Preparing for my interviews at Bright Vision during the spring semester was intimidating. Bright Vision is a community-based organization (CBO) that supports children in the Ngala community with various programs, from offering a feeding program during the “hunger season” to engaging with rights advocacy to providing preschool. I was worried about the language barrier, if anyone would be willing to speak to me, if my questions would get too political, and if my presence would be an inconvenience to their work.

When I arrived to Malawi, I had to first present my research proposal to all of the CBO volunteers and leaders at Bright Vision in Ngala to gauge their interest in speaking with me. The day I went to present my research I had to meet with the Makanga Group Village Headman first, who oversees seven other Group Village Headmen, for permission to interview members of his community. But after a very warm welcome I was able to interview him as well, and at the end when we were just chatting about ourselves, he even offered to host my wedding when I chose to get married! Who knows, maybe I’ll take him up on that and get married in Ngala!

aerial shot of desert town — Aerial shot of Bright Vision from the Ngala Mountain above

Feeling positive about my meeting with the Makanga, I was ready to speak with all of the CBO volunteers and leaders. About an hour later, we all met in the building where the CBO conducts their feeding program; they were accompanied by about twenty of the orphaned children Bright Vision supports through its child-headed household program. The oldest child could not have been over sixteen years old and the youngest around four. I couldn’t interview them because only those over 18 can legally consent to the interviews.

Initially, I felt very uncomfortable when I, along with my translator, were put at the very front of the room behind a huge desk for the introduction. We decided to move closer and sit in the smaller chairs in front of the desk, as all of the volunteers were sitting on the ground. I noticed that women and children were seated on the ground to the left of me and the men were concentrated on the right, most sitting in chairs.

First, the volunteers and leaders went around and introduced themselves in Chichewa, standing up each time. I then introduced myself and let them know that most importantly, I was invested in understanding how they understood their work and the rights of the child. Thinking about my previous ethnography courses and a conversation I had with the goods for good program director about the importance of transparency, I was sensitive to asking the group if they had questions for me and making it clear that they should not feel pressured to participate.

However, during the meeting, I realized that my role with the CBO might be misconstrued as that of a teacher or a donor versus a researcher. This also happened a few weeks ago at the large group interview I had with all of the CBO leaders in the Traditional Authority, when we were discussing the challenges they are facing. The interviewees said a few times that it would be great if I could find them donors when I returned to the US.

At the end of the discussion, a man asked me how the report I would write would help Bright Vision and if it could be brought to the government to encourage support. I got both really excited and intimidated; I had a long way to go to understanding how that could happen, but I wanted to find out. As I drove back to Lilongwe, I felt buzzed and excited that so many volunteers were ready to interview, after scheduling participants for the next month. My research had suddenly become very real, not just a bundle of ideas I had in New York. I was now accountable for producing something for the community.

the author posing with community members — With some of the CBO Volunteers and leaders

I’ve learned that the most important thing in doing research here in Malawi is to be flexible and to not be shy to reach out to academics and practitioners. Here, 10:00 am means maybe 10:30! My research has been disrupted by large funerals, illnesses or a lack of transport but it’s just taken a few more days of planning to get things back on track. On some days I have had six people show up for interviews, on other days two. My largest group of interview was last week, where I interviewed ten people from the surrounding community who interacted with the CBO but did not volunteer. I’ve also learned to not be shy to reach out to professionals and make connections with the help of goods for good. The librarian at the Malawian Human Rights Commission has been incredibly helpful in addition to my contacts engaged in child protection at the Paralegal Services Institute.

I have been able to do some interviews in English, but I find myself a bit frustrated at not knowing what is lost in translation between Chichewa and English. Some interviewees will face me and answer questions, whereas others will speak directly to my translator, Watanja, who has been very helpful in the translation.

In order to do this research to its fullest, I wish I could interview all of the CBOs in the Traditional Authority because in many ways Bright Vision is quite unique. For starters, they are able to provide a few allowances to their volunteers. Additionally, they have a main center as well as branches in the surrounding area that provide programs.

Now, after almost 40 interviews with all CBO staff, some people from the community, and a large interview with CBO leaders from the whole Traditional Authority of Chadza, I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that everything would work out and that I would wish I just had more time.