Today was our first actual day of work, the first day of a 4-day workshop to get us oriented to what we'll be doing as interns with Bridges Across Borders. While we had to suffer through a number of icebreakers and introductions, today was useful in getting a sense of exactly what we will be doing here.
Basically our main job is to develop interactive lessons in what is called "street law." Street law is basically a program run by Bridges Across Borders to teach basic legal concept to the average Cambodian citizen, especially citizens living in rural areas. The lessons generally utilize a number of interactive teaching methodologies besides the basic lecture format, including role-playing, visual demonstration, games, songs, and other ways to really make the legal concepts stick.
The lessons will generally be in areas of the law that will be important in the day-to-day life of Cambodians. So, there are some existing lessons in topics such as family law and the law of battery, but we will be mainly working in 5 different areas: property/land rights, housing rights, children's rights, domestic violence, and rights for persons with HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure which area I will be working in yet, but I should find out soon. I am pretty excited to have the chance to do this. One of my least favorite things about the law is its inaccessibility to the average person, so this is a good way to try and simplify things and make the law easier to understand for people, especially for people in a country without a strong legal tradition. Hopefully we will also get the chance to see some of these lessons being implemented and put into practice later on in the summer.
Thanks for all the comments and support so far...while I am physically on the other side of the world, I still feel quite connected to everyone at home and in N. America through the wonders of the internet, e-mails, and blogs!!!
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