A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service



"Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities."

Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia.

For more 2011 feedback click here.

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The Fellowship Pr... > Blogging for Peace > 2005 > From the Field, J...

From the Field, June 15, 2005

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin - Number 2, June 15, 2005
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The Advocacy Project's summer interns, graduate students from Fordham, Georgetown, NYU, Tufts, UC Berkeley, and Yale, are reporting online about their work.

The interns are paired up with partner organizations abroad in Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Nepal, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. Excerpts of some of the most recent blogs follow, and will be sent weekly.


Children are Still Children in Brazil

Alex Goldmark (Georgetown University) is working with  "Children in Organized Armed Violence" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its project "Fight for Peace" provides at-risk youth with alternatives to gang life.

"This afternoon, I watched eleven 14-19-year-olds make beaded necklaces and share stories about their past. Who would have thought ex-robbers would be, not just willing, but eager to make beaded key chain lizards? It reminds us that, as the law claims, treating them as children can actually work. They seemed to just want a chance that many didn't feel they had before..."


Work Scarce in Bosnia

MacKenzie Frady (Georgetown University) is working with Bosfam, a support group and weaving center for women in Eastern Bosnia.

"The children are all of refugees that have returned to Srebrenica since the war ended. None of their parents are able to get work, they have small gardens or raise some farm animals to live off of. The economy, once thriving is desolated. Before the war, there were mines and engineering companies in the area that employed thousands, now those plants and mines are al closed, and there is hardly any work to be found.."


Democracy Needs to Be Given a Chance in Nepal

Anne Finnan (Fordham University) is working with the Collective Campaign for Peace, (COCAP), a peace-building coalition that promotes democracy rights in Nepal.

"Nepal first obtained democracy in 1950, but ten years later King Mahendra took democracy away from the people, saying that the people of Nepal "were not ready for a democracy". It is true that in the 1950s communication and infrastructure were limited and many Nepali's were not receiving an education. All this made distributing information difficult. […] But if you don't give democracy a chance and don't try to get out the information to the people and educate the people on their choices, then you are also not allowing democracy to grow. Therefore, it would not be the people of Nepal who are not ready for democracy, since they were never given the chance to decide, but it would be those who continue to take back the power that are not ready for democracy - or so it would seem."


Awful Serbian Tactics During War

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.

"Almir is 20 years old and he volunteers at Drina. In 1995, he and his father fled Srebrenica. […]As they hid in the woods, Almir, his father and others heard calls over loudspeakers to come forward to 'the U.N. peacekeepers.' Serb militiamen had painted a truck with U.N. peacekeeper logos to entice fleeing Bosnians to come to them. To be exterminated."


Recipients of Tsunami Aid Share Stories in Sri Lanka

Sarosh Syed (Georgetown University) is working with the Home for Human Rights (HHR), a human rights organization in Colombo, Sri Lanka. HHR has developed a project to rebuild village communities after the tsunami that hit the island nation in December, 2004.

"In the last week, I have visited some of the beneficiaries of HHR's post-tsunami reconstruction work: students in a sewing school that HHR established to help employ displaced women, a tailor for whom HHR replaced a sewing machine she lost in the tsunami, and two dhobies (people who wash clothes) who received buckets and bicycles to continue their trade. I have collected some brief but horrific stories during my visits. Between the war and the tsunami, these people have survived tragedies I can scarcely imagine."


Redefining Poverty in Guatemala

Paula is working with Rights Action in Guatemala. In partnership with the local group Adivima, they are documenting the investigation following the Chixoy Dam massacres.

"First trip out to one of the affected communities: Plan Grande. […] The visits to each home were short but touching. Some families were very shy about having their picture taken. Most ran inside to change into their best outfits and the women all straightened up and fixed their hair before their picture. Each time I showed them the picture on my digital camera. They seemed to really like that. […] The conditions in this community were devastating. I have been forced to re-evaluate my definition of poverty, lack of resources, discrimination and suffering. There was no electricity, no water, no sewer system..."


Lack of Knowlegde About Refugee Issues in Uganda

Eun Ha Kim (Georgetown University) is working with the Refugee Law Project, an organization providing refugees and IDPs in Uganda with legal services.

"One of the most significant challenges which face RLP and refugees is the utter lack of information concerning the displaced by governmental bodies, by international organizations, by the hosting communities and the displaced population themselves. In RLP's latest working paper, research revealed that most people failed to realize that refugees resided in the city at all (because of the general thought that refugees were placed in settlements or camps) and thus no services or structures were in place to address the issues facing urban refugees."

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