A year ago, I found myself at brunch with a dozen of the
most powerful women in Ghana. I
had chosen to stay in Africa an extra month after the Fordham summer abroad
program to continue working at the Ghana AIDS Commission. Though I had the occasional visitor
from the States, my main friends were my co-workers, all 20-somethings with a
taste for Star beer and reggae nights on the beach, just like me. Professor Paolo Galizzi had invited me
to a brunch, and I felt way out of my league among the elegantly dressed,
beautifully well-spoken women around the long table.
The brunch was hosted by the Virtue Foundation, a non-profit
organization that works with international development policy challenges. Virtue had established itself in Ghana
as a leader in the right to health and women’s empowerment arenas, and its
latest project was supporting a Supreme Court clerkship program established by the Leitner Center in 2007. Ghana had never had Supreme Court
clerks before then, and Virtue was now sponsoring three exceptionally talented young
female attorneys in the hope that the women and the judges would learn from
each other over a yearlong period.
At the brunch, I met these women, along with their senior
counterparts. I sat next to a shy,
intelligent woman named Susie, who was one of the new clerks. After speaking with her for an hour on
the subject of women’s rights in Ghana, I was convinced that in 20 years, she
would be at the head of the very same table at the very same brunch, a distinguished
judge offering her wisdom to the next generation. And I very much wanted to be there to see it.
When I got back to New York, I contacted Jocelyn Kestenbaum,
the Programs Director at Virtue, about an internship. Though it was way too early to start looking for the summer,
she humored me and I visited her office for what turned into one of the most
exhausting and invigorating interviews of my life. I was excited to hear I got the job, and even more excited
when I found out that I would be working on the Ghana clerkship program.
(Supreme Court building in Accra, Ghana)
This summer, I have gotten to know the three clerks
well. They keep long journals of
their experiences, noting cases they find interesting and new things they
learn. All three of them are
wonderful writers, providing intelligent and occasionally funny commentary on
the happenings at the Supreme Court. I have corresponded with them about their final research projects, offering
suggestions when I can and empathy otherwise.
The biggest challenge has been discussing legal
research. The clerks, Jocelyn, and
I met in June over Skype for an hour and a half long research training session,
led by me. Once again, I felt out
of my depth talking to these amazing women, the very top of their fields. After talking for a few minutes though,
I relaxed. Even though I am still
in school and they are technically attorneys, there are things I can teach them
to help make their writing and research stronger.
Required classes are annoying at the time, but in
retrospect, I am very glad for the training Fordham has given me. I am also glad that I go to a school
that supports learning outside of the classroom: for everything I taught the
clerks in our training session, I have learned two from reading their journals. I have worked on many projects this
summer, but becoming friends with the future female leaders of Ghana has been
the most rewarding.
Check out more of Virtue Foundation's great work!
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