I’ve always credited my internship with the Center in my second year of law school as one of the defining moments of my life. It was then that I discovered what I wanted to do. In addition, my friendships with my fellow human rights interns have been influential to what I have become.
My immersion experiences as an intern and Internship Director have been my inspiration not to get lost in the materialism of a first world country. I wish Americans would undergo some kind of immersion experience with the poorest of the poor. Then they will really understand how it is to live being paid only TWO PESOS (PhP2.00) or FOUR CENTS ($0.04) for gathering one sack of stones under the scorching heat of the sun.
Still, I acknowledge and thank the American People for the financial contributions they have made to several development projects in the third world. In fact, the AHRC Internship Program has been funded at times by USAID through The Asia Foundation.
The aim of the program is to form law students to become alternative lawyers in the Philippines. So what were the six of us, alumni interns doing in the United States?
Simon, Bene and Ivy are permanent residents of the US. Minnie was visiting her fiancé Lito and I am visiting friends and family. Kaka is on a scholarship. Many other alumni interns are also outside the country. This does not mean though that the Internship Program has been for naught.
I believe that in our hearts and everyday deeds, we carry with us what we have learned.
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A compilation of the internship experience has been published with the title, Remembering Still: Interns’ Reflections on Alternative Lawyering in the Philippines.
