This is the post where I babble about my internship

Well, three weeks into my “stage” (that’s what we call an internship in French) and I feel like things are picking up. I will admit to being a horrible blogger, and apologize for keeping everyone in the dark about my every day life here in Paris. I think that the first couple weeks of my stage were just too intense and difficult for me to write about, but now, as things have settled into more of a comfortable routine, I can finally try to give you an idea of what I’ve been up to.

My stage is at Association des Juristes Berbères de France (AJBF). It’s an association of a bunch of “avocats” and “juristes” (both translate to lawyer in English, but I guess the difference between the two is that an avocat represents clients in court, in front of juries and judges, whereas a juriste can only give legal counsel and support when filling out documents and contracts and that sort of thing) who work as volunteers around their common identity of being “berbère.” Berbère (Berber in English) is the name given to people from communities in Algeria, Mali, Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa, who are generally thought to have resided in those areas before the arrival of Arab populations. There has historically always been a lot of tension between berbère communities and the governments of North African countries, often resulting in treatment as second-class citizens, the deprivation of education in their own language or of representation in the government. I would need a long time to explain it all, and I don’t even think that I grasp the beginnings of the issues, but that at least gives you an idea of the background of my organization. The lawyers who work for my organization are often second or third generation French citizens, but speak Berbère as well as French. While they may have a special interest in Berbère issues, they do not serve just that community, but rather use the identity as Berbères as a common starting point to work together to provide legal aid to underprivileged persons. However, my internship is more on the administrative end of things, so I mostly work with the paid staff of the organization, and not the lawyers who make up the association.

AJBF has four main focuses in the work that it does: schools, parental involvement in the lives of their children, knowledge of rights and obligations as citizens, and issues specific to women. I’ve been able to go to events and meetings that deal with all of these issues, which has been a good introduction to the work of the association and a launching point for my research/reflective paper. I’ve been to one “intervention” at a middle school, where my boss gave an interactive presentation to the students in one of the classes about what justice means to them and what rights they have as children. It was funny – I’d forgotten how eager 11-year-old girls are to answer questions…they were practically falling out of their chairs in their attempts to be the one that my boss called on. So much enthusiasm! Where does that go? I’ve also been to a lot of legal clinics, where I’ve gotten to sit next to the lawyer or jurist and listen to the legal problems of people who stop by. They get free legal advice at these clinics, advice ranging in topics from family law (a ton of divorce cases) to immigration problems (especially people who are afraid of losing their right to stay in France). The clinics have been really interesting, but can get a little depressing at times, when you see women (or men for that matter) in such fragile positions, with absolutely no options. I don’t know how lawyers do it all the time! I’ve also been to a bunch of meetings, where interventions in schools and parent meetings are planned. Being in a non-profit organization makes me realize how much of the work that these associations have to do is just the logistical stuff – getting grants and money from local and state governments, finding partners, meeting specific needs of groups served.

So most of my time so far has been spent observing, and asking a lot of questions of my co-workers. I feel really fortunate that I happen to have some really nice people to work with. The first few days I was too shy to talk to anyone, besides the formality of saying “bonjour” when I arrived in the morning and “au revoir” or “a demain” when I left. But as time has gone on, I’ve gotten to know several of the people working at my org and the other one that shares our office, and have had some really interesting conversations and the opportunity to clarify stuff that doesn’t make sense to me. I think that I will have some great resources there as I start to work on my paper.

Speaking of my paper, I have a meeting tomorrow with my “tutrice” of my memoire, and we’re going to be talking about a subject and how to go about starting the research and writing process. I think that I’m leaning towards doing something about education (not at all what I’d had in mind when I applied to this program many months ago) and how the problems in the suburbs of Paris can be looked at as an opportunity to better the education system in France and to make it more adaptable to the diverse population that lives in the country. I don’t know how Anne, my “tutrice,” is going to react to the choice, but I hope that she’ll have some ideas on how I can make that a more concrete subject.

Well, now that I’ve talked your ear off about my internship, I think that I’ll call that a post and stop that. Thank you for all the comments, I always get really excited to see that people are reading and responding to my blog. It makes me feel like I’m at least a little bit connected to all of you. So thank you, thank you!

Love to you all, and I will post about my weekend with Miles ever so soon.

Liza