A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to produce social change by helping marginalized communities to become advocates for social justice and claim their rights

From the Field, August 3, 2005

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AdvocacyNet
Intern Update, Number 9, August 3, 2005
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Headlines:

• Lost Limbs, Lost Childhoods in India
• The Cursed and The Blessed in Afghanistan
• The Silencing of Roma Women
• Agribusiness Shows Promise For Srebrenica Survivors
• The Long Road to Afghan Girls' Education
• Reading, Writing and Earning: The Weapons Against Trafficking
• Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Nigeria
• Bringing Rio Radio Back to the US

Lost Limbs, Lost Childhoods in India

Karen Adler (Cornell University) is working with Butterflies, an India-based NGO that currently provides assistance to more than 1,000 street and working children around Delhi.

"Drug use and addiction is widespread among the children. Inhaling correction fluid is one of the most common modes of drug use, sometimes with dire consequences. Just today I met a 8 or 9 year-old boy named Anand who lost both of his legs after falling asleep on the train tracks at the New Delhi Railway Station after using an inhalant (he was run over by a train). Since his discharge from the hospital, he has been living at the Butterflies Crisis Center, where I have started assisting the doctor in the mornings."

The Cursed and The Blessed in Afghanistan

Carrie Hasselback (New York University) is working with the Afghan Women's Network, a network of NGOs committed to improving women's rights in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan is a land that has been blessed and cursed at the same time. Just as you lose yourself in the rich culture of the villages or the unspoiled landscape, you are brought back to reality by the rocks painted red at the roadside to inform you that the area is still mined or the rusted out army tanks that have been left to deteriorate."

The Silencing of Roma Women

Margaret Swink (Yale University) is working at the Dzeno Association, a media organization dedicated to promoting the rights of the Roma people.

"Even before coming, I had heard several things about the situation of Roma women that were disturbing. Stories of forced childhood marriages and stories of second class citizenship. Roma women like to be beaten, apparently: it's the way Roma men express their love. Of course, all of this depends on the place and the individual. But in general, Roma women seem to be the lowest of the low. Intellectually, I knew this before coming. But I didn't really think about it. It just seems impossible to me that, anywhere in Europe, the issue of violence against women can still be shrouded in such silence, and such shame. "

Agribusiness Shows Promise For Srebrenica Survivors

Sabri Ben Achour (Georgetown University) is working with the Forum of Srebrenica NGOs, an umbrella organization combining several non-profits in Srebrenica, Bosnia. He is also working closely with one of the Forum's members, the organization Drina that assists IDPs from the war.

"Another project I am working on is to help set up a network of Agricultural Cooperatives in the Srebrenica region. The Srebrenica region was gutted economically by the war, and the main centers of industry have yet to be reconstructed. There was, for example, a silver electrode plant, a battery plant, and a zinc processing plant. They are all in ruins now. […] As a result, Drina feels the best chances for economic growth are in self-employment. Because around 4/5 of the population of the Srebrenica region now lives in rural areas, self-employment in agribusiness is especially important."

The Long Road to Afghan Girls' Education

Shirin Sahani (Georgetown University) is working with the Omid Learning Center in Afghanistan. The organization specializes in girls' education working on a school project that would bring education to remote villages without schools.

"As I drove back, I couldn't help but compare the drive to my experience working on girl's education. The end destination makes the trip worthwhile but getting there is no easy task and is riddled with challenges. Community approval, the lack of qualified teachers and equipment, funding, security, registration bureaucracy, these are just some of the struggles Sadiqa and I have had to overcome. It is easy to get discouraged but then you go back to the big picture. Can we afford to give up on girls' education in Godah? The answer is clearly no. If this project fails then so will any hope for female education in a province where girls are being educated for the first time."

Reading, Writing and Earning: The Weapons Against Trafficking

Ewa Sobczynska (Georgetown University) will be working with the Turin, Italy branch of the Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Project (TAMPEP). TAMPEP is an Italian grass-roots NGO committed to advocating human and civil rights of migrant sex workers and to assist trafficked women and minors.

"The goal is to empower the women economically so that they are less prone to being trafficked - give them opportunities in their home countries so that there's an incentive to stay. This is achieved through series of training sessions in basic skills like hairdressing or tailoring, self-capacity building seminars and enrolment in a micro-credit scheme. In addition, ALNIMA2 aims at raising HIV/AIDS awareness about the women participating in the seminars - so that they themselves are aware of the problem and can advocate the issue with their colleagues and future customers. Moreover, ALNIMA2 contributes to the increase of literacy in Edo State [Nigeria] - as many women are unable to read or write. TAMPEP, before enrolling them into the project, encourages them to participate in the basic alphabetization course, where they learn how to read and write."

Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Nigeria

Malia Mayson (Tufts University) is working with the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON). WOCON is a grassroots women's human rights organization that focuses on the trafficking of Nigerian women and children nationally and internationally.

"[…] so many ordinary Nigerian citizens have been lacking so many basic necessities for so long. As a result, it seems like a certain number of them have come to the conclusion that violence may be the only way to get justice, employment, running water, electricity, education…It's like violence is the only way to get society's attention and remind everyone that there is still something fundamentally wrong with the current status quo. What happened that day on the streets of Lagos, the terror attacks in London, the suicide bombings in Egypt, the continued deterioration of the situation in Iraq…these are all manifestations of a much deeper problem. It is clear that we cannot keep on reacting to the symptoms and neglect to address the root causes of violence.

Bringing Rio Radio Back to the US

Alex Goldmark (Georgetown University) is working with Viva Rio, a multi-service non-governmental organization that works in some 350 favelas (slums) and other low-income communities to overcome violence and social exclusion throughout Rio de Janeiro.

"At the BBC I learned how they organize and manage teams of journalists, and how to deliver the short news stories in a way that resonates. I hadn't spent much time before that on shorter news bulletins myself, but I am sure they will be a regular production item for our station in Rio. […] I feel good being home and even better that I already have reminders of my work in Rio for all to see. A short radio feature about Juvenile Prisons in Rio is airing nationally this week in the USA on the show Making Contact. You can find the stations or listen online at radioproject.org. My story is the third of three in the show. Take a listen. Let me know what you think."