internship report archive

2005

Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
Vashtae Williams (Brooklyn, NY)
This summer I worked with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team at the Brooklyn office. I began working with this internship because of my interest for Human Rights, medicine, and trauma - personally, socially, and politically. The EAAF’s work stood out to me, as it not only used forensic science to uncover crimes and attempt to hold perpetrators accountable, but also it worked closely with the families of the victim. Its work as much a way to aid the family in finding the truth about their loved ones as it was as much for the official, socio-political notions of upholding human rights.
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Construyendo Puentes
Cesia Minemann (Guadalajara, Mexico)

East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
Sari Bilick (Berkely, CA)
This summer I spent two months working at the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (EBSC) in Berkeley, California. EBSC is an organization that came out of the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980’s and provides free support, protection, advocacy, and legal services for immigrants and refugees in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. The majority of clients are in the United States to escape persecution in their home country. Most of the clients come from Central America (particularly El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) and a handful of clients come from other countries throughout the world. The clients come to the EBSC seeking political asylum or other protection programs. The EBSC provides assistance for these complicated applications and provides general assistance with immigration paperwork and legal issues.
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Educacion Popular en Salud
Joanna Klonsky (Santiago, Chile)
Having completed my two months in Santiago, Chile, I feel on the whole that my internship experience could not have been better. During the eight weeks that I worked for EPES (Educación Popular en Salud— www.epes.cl ), I was able to witness exactly how a grassroots organization based in a working class neighborhood like El Bosque in Santiago actually functions. I attended workshops organized by my colleagues for women in the community on subjects like womens’ rights and breast cancer awareness. Additionally, I helped to organize a seminar for public health workers from all over Santiago.
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Elena NGO
Elizabeth Przybylski (Mamfe, Cameroon)

Institute for the Advancement of Journalism
Joyce Li (Johannesburg, South Africa)

International Crisis Group
Ethan Porter (New York, NY)

Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees
Desiree Porter (Utica, NY)
How someone can live in a town for seven years that neighbors a city with the fourth highest concentration of refugees in the United States and never know it is quite the mystery. However, that is the situation that occurred with me. Until I left for college I had no idea that the city of Utica, New York, located thirty minutes away from the high school I graduated from, has a population that is 15% comprised of refugees. After spending many weeks at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees (MVRCR) circumstances became much clearer to me about the reasons I had completed my high school years ignorant of the courageous people building new lives just next door to me.
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North America Language and Culture Exchange (China)
Peter DeBartolo

Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs
Kate Crockford

Parque Ecologico Nueva Juventud
Carlin Thomas (Peten, Guatemala)

Sambhavna Trust Clinic
Adriane Raff-Corwin (Bhopal, India)

UPROSE Youth Justice
Linda Tigani (Brooklyn, NY)

War News Radio
Johanna Hauser (Swarthmore, PA)

WITNESS
Elizabeth Hoyos (Brooklyn, NY)

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Center for Family Life
Elizabeth Howort (PS 314 Brooklyn)
My internship at the Center for Family Life (CFL) was a positive experience both professionally and socially. The staff made an effort to expose me to different kinds of work the organization undertakes in order to be successful. I sat in on staff meetings as well as larger group meetings. I noticed that once I proved myself as being responsible and invested in their programs, I was trusted by a variety of people.
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Cultural Survival
Aniko Kovecsi (Cambridge, MA)
The notion of internship or volunteering is not very popular in Eastern Europe, except a few international NGOs as Amnesty International or Greenpeace. I was really happy to be able to learn about this way of learning and gaining experience in a particular field. I chose Cultural Survival (Cambridge, MA) before I came to Bard College, so my internship was a little bit of a dream come true...
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Entre Hermanos, Centro de Raza
Diego Arispe-Bazan (Seattle, Washington)

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, US office
Tavit Geudelekian

International Foundation for Election Systems
Timur Onica (Washington DC)

New Hampshire Legal Assistance
Ben Feingold
This summer I interned at the Claremont office of New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA). NHLA gives legal assistance to those who cannot afford representation in civil cases that include evictions, disability insurance, and unemployment benefits.
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Studio 360
Elizabeth Daley

Talk Radio News Service
Emily Schmall (Washington, DC)
For six weeks, I was part of the knee-length skirt, button-down shirt professional class of Washington, D.C. Boasted as the best internship in the world—or something equally compelling—Talk Radio News Service sucked me in, and before I knew it, I was racing through Capitol Hill to cover Senate and House hearings, media events and not-for-profit institutional brunches.
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Tetekope Junior Secondary School
Golden McCarthy (Ghana)

The Cambodia Daily
Sho Spaeth (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

The New York Times Moscow Bureau
Rachel Thorner (Moscow)

WITNESS
Kristin Macleod-Ball (New York City)

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After Prison Initiative
Sophia Friedson-Ridenour (New York City)
I worked as a full time intern at The After Prison Initiative at the Open Society Institute for two and a half months this summer. The After Prison Initiative grants money in four major funding categories: justice reinvestment, new leadership development, eradication of civil barriers to reintegration, and restorative reentry practices that all aid in supporting the program mission; “to work against the criminalization of race and poverty by promoting public policies and private initiatives that support successful reentry and reintegration of people returning from prison” (After Prison Initiative).
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Bread and Puppet Circus
Brendan Murray-Nellis

Citizens Watch
Rachel Thorner (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Citizen’s Watch is an NGO in Saint Petersburg, Russia, among the pioneer organizations that were founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Primarily, it advocates and works to protect and improve the legal rights of Russian citizens. The employees, from journalists to engineers, coordinate conferences, symposiums and meetings to discuss and organize reform.
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Committee for Rehabilitation Aid to Afghanistan
Joe Lovoi (Peshawar, Afghanistan)

East Bay Sanctuary Covenant & NARAL
Suzanne Simburg (San Francisco)

Help Desk for the Abused, and Agenda [Magazine]
Daria Solovieva (Durban, South Africa)

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Christopher Lopez-Thomas
The office has a decidedly international flair. On any given day, half of the associates are abroad attending conferences, meeting with government officials and consultants on the ground. Its relatively small size (25 full time staff) lends itself nicely to a friendly community atmosphere. It is the type of place where everyone knows each other’s name. The interns are encouraged to attend the bi-monthly staff meetings. Through these meetings, I was able to gain a fuller understanding of the field and the breadth and density of the organization’s work.
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International Solidarity Movement
Kate Crockford (Palestine/Israel)
During the summer of 2003 I traveled to the West Bank city of Nablus to volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The ISM is a grassroots international movement based in the Occupied Territories---the West Bank and Gaza strip---of Palestine.
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Justicia Para Nuestras Hijas
Emily Price (Juarez and Chihuahua City, Mexico)
My summer was spent in Chihuahua City and Juarez, Mexico working with Justicia Para Nuestras Hijas (Justice for Our Daughters), a support network for the mothers of missing young women. Northern Mexico, specifically the state of Chihuahua, has been home to over 500 uninvestigated kidnappings and femicides over the last ten years, to all of which, until recently, the government response was silent and indifferent, as was that of much of the outside world.
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Outreach, International Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Valon Xharra (The Hague)
The summer of 2003 found me at the Hague interning with the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In order to bridge the gap between the Tribunal at the Hague and the people in the region of former Yugoslavia, the Outreach Program has established and coordinates the work of four of its field offices in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Zagreb and Prishtina. The field offices share the necessary information on the work of the Tribunal with the local population. The Outreach Program has also created and maintains the ICTY website in the local languages of the region. And here I was in the summer of 2003 wrestling the pedals of my bike (did I mention wearing a suit) through the beautiful Scheveningen Street which leads you to the building of the ICTY at the Hague in Netherlands.
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Parental Stress Center
Anna Greenstone

Project IMPACT
Jennifer Ronald (New York City)
When I began working with Project IMPACT, I did not know what to expect. I had never heard of them or anything about their work. I had been looking for summer internships and, giving way to chance, I typed “South Asian American” into a search engine to see what possibilities that would uncover. The first entry which came up was “Project IMPACT for South Asian Americans”. After browsing information about their programs and members, I was impressed. The services and projects which they sponsored are focused on adapting to the changing needs of the South Asian American community. Project IMPACT is managed solely by volunteers and has no central office. The members are extremely dedicated individuals; all well-established in their careers, yet finding the time to contribute to their community. It was something that I too wanted to be a part of.
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Prometheus Radio Project
Katie Jacoby (Philadelphia, PA)
As a media activist, I encountered an exceptional opportunity this past summer to work with the initiators of a low power radio service.  The Prometheus Radio Project are dedicated to the democratization of the airwaves through the proliferation of non-commercial, community based, micropower radio stations.  Thus I spent the entire summer amerced in the exciting world of LPFM.
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Public Interest Law Initiative (Roma)
Nadja Millner-Larsen (Budapest, Hungary)

Rape Crisis Cape Town
Emily Steinberg (Cape Town, South Africa)
In South Africa, it is estimated that a woman is assaulted every 23 seconds. For a country with one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, this is an alarming statistic. This summer, I had the chance to find out more about how such a discrepancy between law and reality happens. I flew to Cape Town, South Africa on June 18th, 2003 and began work at the Rape Crisis Center there the following day. This is a report of the weeks between June 18th and August 23rd.
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Vera Institute for Justice
Karla Lopez (New York City)

Young DC
Tim Abbondelo

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Arenal community in Nicaragua
Emma Kreyche (Nicaragua)

Bulgarian Mission to the United Nations
Tsveta Petrova
From May the 28th to August the 1st, 2001, I interned at the Bulgarian Mission to the United Nations. During my stay there, the mission was in the midst of its campaign for a non-permanent membership of the Security Council in 2002-2003. Most of the diplomatic activity of the Mission consisted of preparations for the Security Council Elections. I was able to observe bilateral diplomacy in the context of multilateral diplomacy and to juxtapose it to multilateral diplomacy from the regular activities of the UN and to bilateral diplomacy, which I observed earlier this year during my internship at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, DC.
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Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights
Hayot Tuychiev (New York City)
Upon completion of my internship, I was very happy that during the internship with The Center for the Human Rights, I was able to achieve the goals I had set for myself before the beginning of the internship. Among many other experiences, I was able to build up a critical, independent view about the human rights issues worldwide. I had the opportunity to look at narrow and specific issues in Human Rights.
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Crimes of War Project
Lucas Cohen

Europe-Central Asia Divison of Human Rights Watch
Saruul Bulgan

Federal Defender Office
Rafi Rom

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Diana Nan

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Jean-Marc Gorelick
Working as an intern for the ICTJ was a life-changing experience. Prior to the internship, I attended lectures sponsored by the HRP. I took classes relating to Human Rights, International Development, and the emergence of a 'global civil society'. A group of us students actively debated the theoretical and political issues of the day. All of this was informative and interesting, but working in an actual human rights nongovernmental organization profoundly transformed my career objectives.

Santa Maria del Mexicano de Colon orphanage
Jerusha Westbury

University of Cape Town
Kerry Chance (Cape Town, South Africa)