Law School Class Returns from Trip to Namibia

By Meagan K. Ciesla

Professor Johanna Bond’s year-long fact-finding class recently returned from their Spring Break trip to Namibia, where they studied HIV/AIDS in the Namibian prison system.  The class, modeled after previous classes Bond led during her time at the Georgetown University Law Center, spent ten days in Namibia’s capital city of Windhoek and surrounding areas conducting interviews with former inmates, government officials, aid organizations, doctors and former prison guards.

Bond was impressed by the willingness of her class to dive into such intensive work and the flexibility they showed when plans shifted at the last minute.  She also attributes the project’s success to the class’s partnership with a local NGO, the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC).  Second-year law student Rachel Ryckman says, “The LAC was an incredible resource both with the logistics and also the legal expertise.  During several interviews, the interviewees were reluctant to speak and answer any questions and the moment we mentioned that we were working with LAC (the local NGO), the interviewee became more relaxed and interested and the answers started flowing freely.”

Divided into four groups of two students, each team of students conducted at least four interviews per day, gathering 72 interviews total when it was time to return to the U.S. 

Some of the class’s findings matched up with their hypothesis of the Namibian prison system before their departure.  Namely, that it is in many ways very similar to the prison system in the United States.  There are key issues that both countries have in common which impact the spread of HIV, such as the inaccessibility of condoms to inmates.

One surprising discovery, however, was the role that food played into their findings.  “Food kept surfacing as a theme in interesting ways,” says Bond.  “Many inmates who are on antiretroviral medications are not receiving the proper nutrition that makes their medication most effective.  On the other hand, others who tell prison officials they are HIV positive are provided with extra food such as an apple or an egg, and are then stigmatized by fellow inmates for being infected.”  Food also arose in their research as a commodity for trade, which can then be exchanged for sex.

Exhausted and jetlagged, Bond and her students returned to school the day following Spring Break and began drafting a report of their findings.  The report will be self-published and distributed to Namibian NGO’s to be used as a lobbying tool for human rights improvements. 

Bond was thrilled to watch her students thrive in such a different set of circumstances than they are used to.  “It was important for them to see that their work could have a real impact.  Now that we’re drafting the report, I think a lot of them will stay in touch with the LAC, even after the class is over.”

June 2008 Update:  To read the law students' final report, click here (PDF format).

Courtesy Photo.