A VERY HEAVY WEEK

Hey guys

I greet you all with a very heavy heart. This week has not been easy on South Africans and that is one of the reasons this post is coming to you a little late. It's been difficult to carry on with things normally. I have to admit that in the midst of everything that is happening in South Africa - Anene Booysen's rape,mutilation and murder, just one case amongst many in the scourge of gender based violence, the State of The Nation Address and then yesterday's horrific news that Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend in his home, we are shocked, fatigued and still reeling from it all. Yesterday I attended the 1Billion March against gender based violence at Constitution Hill.  I arrived at 4pm and left at 6pm and in those two hours, I kept asking myself ''what are we doing here''? The thinness of the crowd was really disappointing.  There were too few people, no clear leader galvanizing people to action, not enough of a feeling of anger at the many injustices women experience in the hands of men. It was more like an imbizo than a march, with drumming to furnish it.  In the two hours I was there, the group did not make it out to the streets.  From outside Constitution Hill, one couldn't even tell that people were mobilizing inside. There was not a single policeman in sight and the roads were open, cars driving through as if it was any other day. An oddity considering the mess we're in.  I arrived there feeling sad and I left feeling even sadder that such an important cause didn't receive the kind of support it needs to end the violence.  But this is not to say the people that came to make a stand should not be acknowledged for their contribution.  It's not their fault that violence against women is not at the top of this country's agenda.  Our president didn't even isolate the issue in his speech, which was more like a very long and uninspiring oral in which he didn't look up from his typed speech.

When I went to bed last night, I was hoping to wake up feeling a little lighter.  But that's not the case.  As I perused the many CV's I received in the last week, I couldn't decide whether I even wanted to post anything today. I mean whose reading blogs anyway? But when I came across the CV below, I felt it necessary and relevant to find this person a job, because God knows, we need more people doing this kind of work.  I will only post this CV today because of the miasma of dispair that this week has resulted in. I know it's a little dramatic, but I'll post the other two CV's on Monday. 

This CV belongs to a female lawyer who has a lot of experience in that she's worked in some of the top firms in South Africa and abroad, but she actually really wants to do legal work for NGO's.  Her work as a Gender Based Violence and Health Attorney as well as her research and advocacy in Aids Research in the last 2 years is the kind of work she seeks.  To contact the person this CV belongs to, please send an email to missmillib@gmail.com 

Gender: Female

Nationality: South African

Education

2002            University of Port Elizabeth - LLB (Bachelor of Laws) Degree

2003            University of Port Elizabeth - School for Legal Practice, Post Graduate Diploma

2005 - 2006 University of Cape Town - LLM (Master of Laws) Degree in Shipping Law

Work Experience

2004 - 2005 Hofmeyr, Herbstein & Gihwala - 2 year Articles of Clerkship

2005            High Court of South Africa - Admission as an Attorney

2006            Bowman Gilfillan Cape Town - Junior Associate, Maritime and Transport Dpt;

                    Women's International Shipping and Trading Association - Executive Committee Member,             
                   

2007            Secondment to Holland and Knight, New York, USA - Foreign Lawyer, International 

                    Trainee Program - Conducint legal research and providing legal opinions and attending 

                    UNCITRAL debates at the United Nations representing South Africa. 

                    

2008            Maritime Lawyers' Associate, Executive Committee Member of Cape Town Chapter

2008 - 2009 Bowman Gilfillan, Cape Town - Promotion to Senior Associate, Maritime and Transport

2009 - 2010 Diko Loss Adjustors: Liability Specialist

2010 - 2011 Associate Attorney at Shepstone and Wylie

2011            Gender Based Violence and Health Attorney at Women's Legal Centre - 

                    The position entailed attending Court cases related to discrimination based on sexual 

                    orientation, facilitating training with health-care personnel and consellors on the Domestic

                    Violence Act and Sexual Offenses Act, making submissions to various partner

                    organisations on issues related to sexual and reproductive rights including those of 

                    marginalised groups, facilitating community workshops on gender-based violence and 

                    sexual and reproductive health rights, giving legal advice to women on gender based 

                    violence and sexual and reproductive health rights. 

2011            Executive Committee Member of Team Building Team: Women's Legal Centre

2012            Aids Legal Network - Advocacy and Policy Researcher - 

                    The position entailed community dialogues with women and men to address gender and 

                    power imbalances and the role these play in the vulnerability of women, girls and boys to 

                    HIV infection and violence.  Administering questionnaires in communities to research the 

                    impact of stigma, discrimination and gender violence on women, girls and boys living with

                    HIV. Conducting policy research and publishing legal articles.  Facilitating workshops

                    regarding HIV prevention needs for women and girls. Capacity building and mobilizing

                    women in communities to form task teams. Preparing workshop material based on health  

                    legislation including but not limited to HIV counselling and testing policy guidelines,

                    WHO testing guidelines, the National Strategic Plan on HIV, National Health Act, 

                    Domestic Violence Act and Sexual Offenses amongst others. 

ENDS