Intern and Project Profiles

The following Pepperdine law students and projects are seeking sponsorship:

Projects and Internships:

Joe Groff: Rule of Law Internship in Cameroon, Africa

Degree: JD/MPP 2009

Location: Cameroon

Fellowship: Global Network for Good Governance (GNGG)

Duration: Three weeks (April 2009)

Financial Need: Has obtained $2,500 in funding and needs a remaining $1,000

Not many people know about Cameroon. It is a country that has managed to stay out of world headlines primarily because there have not been significant periods of violence or catastrophic disease statistics to report. But relative stability has been bought at an awful price. Cameroon has been ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International and given Freedom House's lowest classification of "Not Free". The 27-year reign of President Paul Biya has overseen an authoritarian consolidation of power, an administration of bribery and numerous human rights abuses along the way. Many Cameroonians now simply accept this as way things are.

I have decided to work with the Global Network for Good Governance (GNGG) in Limbe, Cameroon to do something about it. This April to May, I will team up with GNGG's Youth Empowerment Officer, Chris Fotabong, to develop their Youth Empowerment and Human Rights Education Initiatives. We are going to go into secondary school and college classrooms and engage Cameroon youth and work with them to prepare them to become the next generation of leaders. We will also be monitoring public meetings and judicial procedures to document and raise awareness about the troubling number of arbitrary arrests, government killings and unlawful detentions. Finally, we hope to engage communities in discussions about the rights of women, who suffer severe discrimination, from barriers to employment and public services to the more extreme problem of female genital mutilation. Through this, I hope to bring Christ's message of love and respect and America's message of hope and freedom to the oppressed populations of Cameroon.

Thanks to the Lilly Endowment, a significant portion of my travel costs have been covered. To date, I am approximately $1,000 short of my projected budget. With your help, the youth of Cameroon can have a more hopeful future.

Thai/Burma Justice Initiative

Number of Participants: 8

Location: Thailand and Burma

Duration: 10 days over Spring Break

Financial Need: $5,000

Over spring break, a team of law students will be traveling to the Thai-Burma Border to develop international justice projects with our field partners. The team will spend the first half of the trip working in the refugee camps along the border. We will be conducting interviews, research, and developing a long-term strategy for implementing a human rights initiative with our faith-based partners there. The second half of the trip will be spent in Chiang Mai. Some members of the group will work with the Free Burma Rangers on distilling their documentation of human rights violations into a legal document. Other team members will assist an organization combatting human trafficking in their field work and drafting of legal policies. Each team member will receive a stipend toward their travel expenses. Each team member is paying for the remainder of their travel fees. A project sponsor is needed to help provide these stipends. The total need is $5,000.

Post-Graduate Fellowships:

Christina Sambor

Degree: JD 2008

Location: India

Fellowship: Legal Fellowship with Major International Human Rights Organization

Duration: One year (2009-10)

Financial Need: $15,000

Pepperdine is developing a Fellowship opportunity withthe field office of a major faith-based international human rights organization that is combatting human trafficking in India. As a Fellow, Christina will serve as an attorney for the organization and act as a liaison between the organization and regular Pepperdine law student interns. This is a very exciting opportunity for Christina and Pepperdine. We hope that a law firm or sponsor may generously partner with us in pioneering this highly impactful fellowship. The Fellowship will last an entire year.

Internships for the Summer of 2009:

COMING SOON!!!!