Grand Finale!!

Today was our last day in South Africa; it has been quite a week. This blog wraps up our trip…we hope you enjoyed sharing in it with us.

Friday

Yesterday was the competition; we drew first and argued in the Court of Appeals at 8:15 am against a team from the local university. We argued again at 11:00, representing the opposing side, against a team from Zululand. It was quite interesting to see the contrasting styles, not only between our team and the others, but between the teams from different provinces. The judges, teams, and audience members were very complementary and a bit humbled that we had come all this way, learned their law, their procedure (which is completely different) and held our own all the while.

The mother of our opponent in the first round found us in the ‘tea room’ and gave us a gift with a note attached. We were quite in awe of this gesture and felt very welcome in the competition.

After our second round we headed downstairs where the teams were announced for the final round. They first announced the teams who competed in Afrikaans, one of the 11 recognized official languages in South Africa. It was now time for the English teams to be announced and sides to be chosen for the argument. To our delight we were selected to compete in the finals at the Supreme Court of Appeals, the highest court in South Africa.

We arrived at the Court and took a few pictures. As we entered the courtroom we were made aware that we would be speaking in front of eight judges. The courtroom was very old and beautiful. With a gallery filled with the other fifteen teams and coaches, as well as a camera crew, we began our argument. We performed our best argument to date and were quite pleased with the result. Six weeks of intense preparation (including 2 briefs….or “heads of arguments”) had come together and it was very rewarding. Exhausted, we returned home for a quick break prior to the awards banquet.

While we did not win first place, we were showered with congratulations from the other teams and the judges who were present for taking second place. They thanked us for travelling so far and taking the time to learn their law and argue it well. The rest of the night was spent saying our good-byes to the many friendly people we met during our time in South Africa. We are very proud of our accomplishment and look forward to sharing more details upon our return.

Saturday

We spent the majority of the day at Kidz Care Trust, a street shelter for boys. Two other shelters also brought their boys….one drove 4 hours (each way) to participate! It was an amazing experience. From the monies we raised we were able to provide them with a full day of fun and many essentials that they struggle to acquire.

Our hosts connected us with an inflatable company and we rented two large inflatables for the teens to play on. The teens must have gone up and down the water slide inflatable 100 times each. Another purchase made with the money was four soccer balls and two 8×6 soccer goals which we constructed with the help of some of the students from the University of the Free State’s Juridical Society (similar to our SBA). Rory purchased a whistle and refereed the first two matches. We also purchased them a net, paddles, and balls for their ping pong table.

We broke for lunch after the second match. We provided the children with KFC, it did not take long for the buckets to be emptied. All throughout the early morning and lunch, the teens took turns thanking us for coming to hang out with them. They were truly a grateful bunch.

After lunch, the games continued. We went to a round robin format with the final match to be decided prior to 3 pm departure time of the other groups. As Rory was walking to the field to resume his ref duties, one of the teams asked for a different ref (apparently, Rory is getting old – he couldn’t keep up with the teens so they wanted someone else who could keep up at all times).

After the matches ended and the other shelters departed, we distributed the other items we were able to secure. T-shirts, wash cloths, toothbrushes, and pens were all a big hit. Underwear was the biggest hit and was received with a round of applause. Our final gift was a set of hair clippers. The teens’ smiles were priceless.

After the items were given out, a few boys came forward and spoke. They thanked us and wished us luck in our journey back to America. It was an uplifting experience, not one we will soon forget.

Thanks for reading….time to prepare for exams

The fun continues….

Since we last checked in a lot has gone on here in South Africa. We made it to the Cheetah House, where we played with the baby lions and a few cheetahs. Professor Buske, the bravest of the group, received a playful tap on the back by a lion and almost didn’t leave with one of her sneakers. Danielle was right in there with the lion cubs. Her camera bag was quite popular among the cubs and nearly became lunch for one cub in particular. Rory, well he was hiding behind Professor and Danielle for most of the experience. Yesterday, we spent the day in the sun by a pool working on our arguments and studying for mid-terms. It was a great change of environment from the library (or Starbucks). And we got quite a bit of sun. We also went to visit the Kidz Care Trust (a shelter for street teens – boys) where we are hosting a “Sports Day” for them on Saturday. It was great to meet them and hear their stories. They even performed Gumboot Dancing for us – a local tradition. It was awesome! Today, we are going to meet with a professor at the law school – he is going to work with us on South African procedure for the competition on Friday. We are guessing it is quite different! We will write more later…..

Welcome to Africa

We have finally arrived in South Africa –  Bloemfontein to be exact.  It was a long trip, 17+ hours in the air!!   Now that we are here, we are very excited!  After sleeping much of the day away on Sunday, we are ready to explore what South Africa has to offer. 

We are now at the University of the Free State.  We were amazed to find out that the student body consists of over 25,000 students.  The school is made up of many different “faculties” – the business school, the law school, a medical school, etc…  The computer lab is very modern.  Every computer is filled (there are approximately 400) and a line is formed at the door.  Adrien, our guide, who is a law student and research assistant at the university, informed us that most students do not have laptops.

Our accomdations are great…the hosts have been very hospitable.  This morning we awoke to breakfast in bed: scrambled eggs, bacon (the bacon was a bit questionable), and toast.  The rooms are very modern and filled with Hollywood themes–Danielle wakes every morning to a life size poster of Scarface.  Rory’s room has more of an art theme. 

After finishing up at the computer lab we are off to the Free State Stadium, home of the 2010 World Cup.  This afternoon we will be visiting the Cheetah House, where Rory will be taking photos of Danielle and Professor Buske as they mingle with the lions, tigers, and cheetahs…oh my!!

Check back soon for more updates as the adventure continues…

Adventure #2: UFS Moot Court Competition

CSL’s first foray into African Adventures was this summer when Carol Fletcher and I spent most of the summer in Tanzania & South Africa.  Now, Danielle Gier and Rory Brady have travelled to Bloemfontein, South Africa to compete in the UFS Moot Court Competition.  They’ve spent the last 3 weeks working on briefs and doing practice oral rounds.

We left Charlotte on Friday, October 2, overnighted in NYC and then flew NYC to Johannesburg (15+ hours) to Bloemfontein, arriving Sunday morning.  We were pretty much useless the rest of the day!  But we’re up and about now and have much to do today.  Rory & Danielle will be posting while we’re here — we hope you’ll follow along!

Final Thoughts…

Professor Buske asked me to write a wrap-up post for the blog and I have to admit I have put it off for quite a while. It is difficult to put into a couple of paragraphs the impact this experience has had on my life.

 First, I want to start by thanking Professor Buske for including me on such an amazing trip. There is only so much that can be taught in a classroom. It is one thing to sit in a room and talk about how the law effects lives, but it has a totally different impact to see it in person. I can genuinely say that I have taken away and learned more from Professor Buske and from this experience than any other educational opportunity that I have had. I will forever be indebted to her for the investment she made in my life. She challenged me to think outside of my worldview and showed me firsthand how the law can improve the lives of people living in some of the darkest situations. It was fascinating to see how Professor Buske’s work with “Mkombozi” (an advocacy organization for street children in Arusha, Tanzania) directly improved and continues to improve the lives of street children. This trip further solidified my desire to use my law degree to serve the underserved, both domestically and internationally.

I thought it would be a cool to wrap up my blog post with my trip “high” and “low.” Each night, Professor Buske and I would share our “high” and “low” for the day- it was a really great way for us to process all that we were thinking and feeling. While each day proved to be intellectually enlightening, some days were very emotionally challenging. My low point of the trip was while we were at the “Sunflower House” in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Sunflower House is primarily a hospice home for terminally ill children. As I sat on the floor tossing a ball back and forth with one of the toddlers, it hit me that some of these little children might not be here in a year, or even a couple of months. It took everything I had inside to push the tears from my eyes. I didn’t want them to see me crying. The last thing they needed was to see more sadness in their lives. As I continued to toss the ball back and forth, I kept thinking that this was what AIDS looks like. I struggled with how this child, so full of life and ripe with potential, could be sentenced to battle through such a horrible disease, that would ultimately take his little life. I thought about how the law affords so many protections, yet fails to ensure that little ones like this receive ARV drugs. It seemed so unfair – that technology has come so far, yet there is no cure for this disease.

On the other hand, it is really hard to pick just one “high” point of my trip. I have thought a lot about this and I think I would have to say my high was probably the conference on Intercountry Adoption at the University of the Free State. It was such an amazing experience to sit on a panel of professionals, including Professor Buske and a South African Constitutional Court Judge, and discuss the implications of intercountry adoption for South Africa. I was honored to have the opportunity to take part in the “Q&A” session and to share some of my personal knowledge from having worked as a social worker in intercountry adoption before starting law school. The discussion that day challenged some of my core views of intercountry adoption and motivated me to further explore how the law can ensure that children’s best interest are always protected.

 I want to wrap up by saying thank-you to Charlotte School of Law for pursing the development of African Programs and for allowing me to be first the student to participate. Programs like this truly exemplify the Charlotte School of Law mission pillars: serving the underserved, being practice ready and student-centered! I can truly say I am proud to be a student at a school that supports such programs. I wish that every student had the opportunity to experience something as wonderful as I did this summer. I am so excited about the work CSL will do in Africa in the future and as a “soon-to-be” Alumni of this school, I am committed to helping with the development of these programs in any way possible.

Days 21-24: CapeTown

Early on we decided that when we finished up with our “official” duties, we’d spend the last couple of days in CapeTown.  I think we both had ideas about the famous beaches, but after being so cold for so long, we nearly ditched the idea of going to the beach.  We are so glad we didn’t! 

CapeTown is beautiful — its reputation as a world class city is well-earned.  The history here is fascinating too.  And it’s warmer!!  We’re staying at a hotel near the waterfront — it’s an interesting property.  It’s part of the originial prison — part of the old structures have been turned into a hotel and part of it is now part of the University of CapeTown (business school).  That it was once a prison is obvious from the layout and the way the rooms are set up.  Ours is so small that the door to the hallway can open only halfway because it bumps into the bed.

We’ve spent the last couple of days be tourists — sightseeing and shopping.  We’ve had a wonderful trip and learned so much.  The people have been welcoming and gracious.  We’re looking forward to furthering the relationships we’re building and creating opportunities for more CSL students.

Day Twenty

Today is Saturday. This morning we slept in a little (obviously we needed it after our late night last night). Grace and Carol headed over to Windmill Centre, a high-end local place with black light bowling. They bowled for an hour or so, played at the arcade for a while, and then had lunch at “Spur” complete with an ice cream for dessert that looked like a clown!  Buske spent the morning working on a secret project. That’s right–3 weeks together and we still have “secrets.”

This evening we relaxed a little and the family at the guesthouse hosted another Brie (sp?) for us! Dinner was AMAZING…steak, pumkin tart, amazing potatoes, lamb, and a dessert made special by their 11 year old daughter. It was delicious.. we are going to be sad to say good-bye to them tomorrow.

Over dinner, we learned that their housekeeper, Maria, had been arrested. A 13 year old girl, for whom she is the legal guardian,  was raped.  There was some mix up over where the police was supposed to pick her up. They failed to pick her up as arranged and Maria was arrested and jailed along with the rapist. The court later released her; we think the police realized that they failed to pick her up as they were supposed to.  The little girl ran away when Maria was arrested. When located, she initially refused to return home because the rapist had threatened her and was out on bail. The irony was that Maria was jailed over night and the rapist was immediately released on bail without spending any time in jail.

The owners of the guesthouse were upset, irate, and worried about the situation. Maria has worked for them for 15 years and they consider her a member of the family. When they shared their story with us, we knew we had to help. We contacted the director of ChildWelfare, the NGO that provides services to child victims (that we had met last week), and Inez who is in charge of the Legal Aid Clinic at UFS.  They both promptly responded and promised to help. We were glad we were able to help the family and connect them with resources.

Day Nineteen

This morning we started out a little later than usual (8:30). Michelle Karls, one of the USF Professors, graciously dedicated her day to us.  First we headed to Jumbo, the South African  “Sam’s Club.”  We purchased the following supplies for our afternoon visit to the Sunflower House: 

8 packages of Twistable Crayons, 5 packages of modeling clay, 7 paint sets,  24 bottles of baby lotion, 4x 25lbs bags of Maize meal (each bag = 100 meals), 6 Tubes of diaper creme, 16 baby bottles, 14 sippy cups, 6 powder milk containers, 36 bars of soap, 18 jars of Vaseline, 12 tubes of toothpaste, 5 huge bags of candy, 8 soccer balls, 20 packages of koolaid, 450 diapers, 7 coloring books, 100 bags of chips, 48 rolls of toilet paper, 3 plastic potty chairs, 2 jars of vapor rub, 18 toothbrushes, 6 canisters of baby powder, 3 fleece baby blankets, and 48 pacifiers.

Goodies for the children at Sunflower House

We got all of this for around $300.00!!!!!!

We then made our way to the Sunflower House, a palliative care home for terminally ill children.  It was created to serve as a safe and comfortable “end of life” home.  Many of the children suffer from HIV/AIDS, others are afflicted with cancer, or have severe mental and/or physical handicaps. However, due to the shortage of facilities for children in the state’s care, some of the children are not actually terminally ill.  The director explained that some of the non-terminally ill children were the victims of very traumatic rapes and are at Sunflower House to recover mentally & physically.

Buske and Carol joined a group of USF students at the Sunflower house.  They were members of the USF Legal Society and as part of their community service they were throwing a “Christmas in August Party” for the children.  We were greeted by the children singing and dancing.  The USF students brought wrapped gifts for the children and served them cake.  The children were delighted!  We enjoyed seeing the big smiles on their faces.

After cake, we got down on the floor with the children and played.  We threw balls, played with dolls, shook rattles and loved on the children.  It was a bittersweet experience.  Sweet, because of the joy in the children’s faces, but bitter knowing the struggles these little ones have already faced and will face. 

After playing with the kids for an hour or so and dropping off our car load of donations, we picked up some KFC for lunch and returned to the guesthouse. We rested for a couple of hours, caught up on email and then Inez, one of the USF Professors,  picked us up and we went to Professor Mariette Reyneke’s home for a South African Brie (sp?).   Professor Reyneke had also invited Adrian and Dineo.

A brie is something like a BBQ — lots and lots of meat (steak, chicken, sausage & lamb).  We laughed and traded stories through dinner and then afterwards settled in for a much more serious conversation over desert.  We started talking off talking about life in the student hostels and then moved on to the challenges of teaching.  They are still sorting out education post-apartheid.  The great differences in secondary school education creates enormous challenges for universities.  Those challenges are then greatly complicated by the language issue.  From there, the conversation took another turn and we found ourselves having a very candid discussion about race relations on-campus.    The discussion was a little awkward at times, but very heartfelt and enlightening for ALL of us — maybe even more so for the South Africans.  We had such a great time that we didn’t leave until nearly 1:00am.

Day Eighteen

Another early day!  Buske spent several hours this morning in a borrowed office working while Carol worked making our arrangements for the final leg of our trip — Cape Town.

This morning we met with a group of UFS faculty  — both from the law school and the language school.  They are re-evaluating how to teach legal writing & research to students who speak different languages with the added complication that professors are often not teaching in their first language.  Very complicated!  It was an interesting discussion!

From there we had an informal lunch meeting with a smaller group of law faculty.  They took us to a student dining hall — we were clearly the only faculty in the place!  We’re not sure what we ate — it was a cross between a big biscuit and a pancake and was stuffed with eggs, cheese & bacon.  Then we had donuts for desert! 

AFter lunch Buske guest lectured in a couple of classes.  UFS students must write a major thesis before they can graduate.  Buske lectured about developing a thesis — she used the topic of embryo adoption as the basis.  Embryo adoption — as a legal and moral concept — was something none of the UFS students had ever heard of.  It was interesting to hear how they framed the issue and what sort of things they took for granted as being a non-issue.  Most students, for example, simply assumed that an embryo is “human” and were surprised at the idea of framing the issue as a property or tissue/organ issue.  What an interesting class — not in the least because it was held in the agricultural/farming building and we could smell the dead animals stored in the basement!

Late this afternoon we went to Leborne — an orphange for children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.  There were about 40 children, ranging in age from birth to 16, who lived there full-time.  There’s another 40 or so children who attend the day care center on a daily basis.  Some of the children are HIV+ and some of them have lost their parents to AIDS.  The youngest was a set of twins who are about 8 months old — they weigh about 7 pounds.  It was both sad and encouraging — sad that there’s a need for such places and encouraging because these children seemed cared for and cared about.

It was another emotional day — up and down.  The poverty and need here is so overwhelming.  But there’s also great joy and hope here too.

Day Seventeen

We spent the morning at the domestic violence court.  We were given a guided tour by Patrick, one of the Staff Attorney’s at UFS’ law clinic.  He had previously clerked at the court and knew everyone there — we were waived through security even though we had lots of contraband in our bags.

Our first meeting was with one of the judges who hears the criminal domestic violence cases.  Here, the initial orders are civil orders of protection.  It only becomes a criminal matter if the order is violated or the perp is charged separately under the criminal code. 

Our next stop in the courthouse was at their equivalent of victim services for sexual assault cases involving children.  Their primary purpose is to prepare child victims to testify by explaining the process and what they will be asked to do.  They use child-size dolls to represent the various courtroom players:  the judge, the defendant, the attorneys, the police, and the child.  The children do not actually appear in the courtroom — they are in another room where they testify via camera.  The staff spent a long time explaining the process and asking about our system.

From there, we visited with the child services clerk.  As we understood it, that office acts as the administrative office for foster care cases — they schedule court dates, issue foster care payments, and work in coordination with Child Welfare.  Like the American counterpart,  the hallway was lined with families who were waiting for their cases to be heard or administrative assistance with their case.

The Domestic Violence Courtroom

 

After that, we sat in on a couple of criminal domestic violence cases heard by the judge we had met with earlier in the morning.  One of the things we’ve come to understand about South Africa is how the multiple languages play out.  In court today, for example, the judge, lawyers and defendant all spoke in Sewto (sp?), but because the official transcript must be in English, the defendant had to speak through an interpreter.  It seemed cumbersome to us – it went like this:  the judge asked questions in English, the translator repeated it in Sewto, the defendant responded in Sewto, then the translator translated it into English for the official record….but, the judge understood Sewto to begin with.  It seemed to us that the translator wasn’t simply translating….it seemed more like she was cross-examining the witness!  And, just like the American system, continuing cases was common.

The Defendant

We had a late lunch at the law school with UFS faculty to talk about the development of their legal writing programs.  They must deal with obstacles we didn’t really appreciate before today.  One of the major difficulties is that there are 11 official languages in South Africa.  For UFS, that means classes must be offered multi-lingually.  Each class is offered in English and Afrikaans.  There’s also discussion that a third language will be required in the future.  Another significant challenge is the variance in secondary schools  — there is some concern about grade inflation to ensure students will be accepted at University.  Consequently, there’s a huge range in the education prepardness of law students.

In the afternoon, we visited a residental center for street boys — Kids Care Trust.  The NGO operates a home for about 20 boys, ranging in age from 8-18.  It is not a foster care situation — the boys are what we would call runaways/homeless.  We had a candid conversation with the director about the lives of these boys and the resources that are available to them.  One of the big differences in Bloemfontein regarding street children is that the police partner with the NGO — the children are not viewed as criminals or nuisances.  This is in stark contrast to most places where street children are viewed as the ”problem”  instead of the consequence of  a larger issue.

We got to talking about some of the reasons the boys run away from their families.  In addition to the usual abuse and neglect, we learned that a significant number of the boys run away to avoid male initiation ceremonies.  From what we’ve gathered, for the boys to be considered “men,” they must complete “initiation school.”  Initiation school isn’t something that is talked about — but it seems to be that the boys are taken into the mountains during the winter, stripped of their clothes and left with only a blanket.  They are circumcised with rudimentary tools and no anesthesia.  They are then left in the mountains for many days.  There have been several recent reports in which as many as 10 boys have died due frostbite, infection & gangrene.

This evening Carol went back to the hostels with Dineo.  Tonight the girls’ hostels travelled across campus and serranded the male hostels.  Afterwards, Megan, Dineo & Carol went out for coffee and treats. Carol enjoyed spending time with new friends!