
Two more weeks, and I'm off to Grahamstown, South Africa for a 26-week internship through the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). I will be working at the Legal Resources Centre, a South African legal human rights NGO which operates as an independent, client-based, non-profit public interest law clinic using the law as an instrument of justice. According to my LRC supervisor: "We are doing a huge mix of work -- environment, children, and land stuff on the boil right now -- we will have plenty to keep you busy"!
This experience started with an application, an intense phone interview, and an offer that arrived by email. My heart leapt out of my body as I read and re-read the email and realized I had really been selected. Then, it was off to Ottawa with the other interns for our CBA/CIDA orientation where we triangulated to instantly become "interculturally effective persons". Well, not really -- but we did bond over shisha on Sparks Street, meet our fearless leader Al Cook (director of the CBA Young Professionals International Program), and learn about patience, diplomacy, and culture shock. And who could forget the ball, brick, and cup of coffee?
So in just two weeks, I will leave the protective cocoon of my windowless office on the secure side of the British Columbia Supreme Court (where I have been clerking for the past year), and head for an unknown apartment in an unknown country to work as if I were a full-time qualified lawyer in the LRC office. My nerves are calmed somewhat by the knowledge that last year's Canadian intern is still there -- which means: (a) she must have loved it, and (b) she'll be there to help me adjust -- and by my memories of the (albeit West) African sky. I couldn't be more amazed and excited!
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