Colombia student reactions

“I am very grateful for the chance to travel to Colombia during spring break and study Afro-Colombian land rights. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet with many important government officials and community leaders and gained a wealth of knowledge about the struggles that the Afro-Colombian community is facing. In addition, the trip helped to solidify my interest in human rights law. It was extremely beneficial to learn about human rights in a real life setting and meet people whose lives have been directly affected by the issues that we are studying.” – Amber VanSchuyver (Law)

“I had many wonderful experiences such as learning about the failures of the Colombian justice system firsthand from top attorneys, visiting and dancing with members of a displaced Afro-Colombian community, and commiserating with community leaders on the need for a civil rights movement to make the law work.” – Paul Di Blasi (Law)

“So much of what we do as students ends up being confined to the university, an unfortunate situation that feeds the idea that academia is separate from or outside of ‘the real world.’  I have always strongly disagreed with that sentiment, and am pleased that the Rapoport Center organized and committed itself to this delegation.  Hopefully what we produce will be not only a useful and accurate report, but also an example to encourage other similar projects in the future.” – Josh Clark (LLILAS)

“A rare opportunity, no doubt! The mission was a rich and invaluable experience.” – Kendall Zanowiak (LLILAS)

“This was a wonderful experience and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to learn about Afro-Colombian human rights in a real-life setting.”– Alysia Childs (Anthropology)