My next volunteer project abroad - legal help for refugees in Mexico
The cause
Each year, thousands of people, including many young people, arrive in Mexico after fleeing the "Northern Triangle" countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Many are trying to escape gang violence, forced recruitment, extortion, or are otherwise fleeing for their lives from an area with one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Mexico is a signatory to international refugee laws (including the 1951 Refugee Convention, 1967 Protocol, and the Cartagena Declaration) and has incorporated such laws into its own domestic laws, meaning that such people should be able to safely seek asylum and refuge in Mexico. However, problems are still experienced at Mexico's southern border, with many of those looking for safety being detained and/or returned to danger in their home countries. Often those who are in need are unaware of their legal rights, including their rights to seek asylum.
Organisations such as Asylum Access México are working very hard to provide much needed legal and other assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Mexico, however limited funding means they rely also on the assistance of volunteers.
How I plan to help
Having begun my career as a lawyer in commercial litigation, with over 3 years’ private practice legal experience in first- and second-tier law forms in both Sydney and London, I developed strong legal skills in high-pressure environments. In addition to my private practice legal experience, I also have over two and a half years’ experience working in the Not-for-Profit sector, including in the legal assistance sector in Australia. I am now eager to use my legal and advocacy skills along with my Spanish-language skills to help people seeking safety in Mexico: to assist them in their claims for asylum, and to help them know their rights.
My experiences living, travelling, volunteering and working in different countries and cultures, and in a variety of roles, sectors and work environments, have helped shape my world view and broadened my understanding of the global context in which we live. Such experiences have fostered my desire to work in the area of human rights and refugee law, and accordingly I transitioned from the corporate law world to the Not-for-Profit sector, utilising my skills in an environment that impacts on the wider community, and, in particular, on disadvantaged communities. Those experiences have also equipped me with a more diverse skillset, including working in cross-cultural environments, as well as flexibility in working in different work environments and on a variety of different projects and fields.
Prior to leaving Australia in March this year, I was co-leading a fully volunteer-run, grassroots charity that works with children from refugee backgrounds living in Australia. Having volunteered with that organisation for over two years, I have come to know many young people with past experiences of torture and trauma, who had previously fled their home countries due to tragedies such as political upheaval, persecution or war.
At Asylum Access in Mexico, I will be supporting a wonderful Not-for-Profit organisation to provide free individualised legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from the Northern Triangle. Through providing free legal information, counsel and representation to those in need, we will be helping them to secure refugee status, as well as obtain and exercise their work rights and access to education, healthcare and other basic rights and protections. You can read more about the volunteer program here.
Following the training and experience I will receive with Asylum Access, I then hope to be able to utilise my new skills and knowledge to work in refugee law in the future, either in Australia or another country, to continue helping vulnerable people to obtain a safer life.
The financial side of it
I am responsible for covering all housing, food, insurance, and other life expenses associated with my time volunteering with Asylum Access, with no funding or renumeration provided by the organisation at all. The way I see it is, I am here to help a Not-for-Profit organisation do its great work; and if they had sufficient funds to cover my food and accommodation, then it would really be preferable for them to use those funds on paying a local employee to do my job instead. Plus, living costs in Mexico are much much cheaper than in my home country, Australia, so it is much less of a burden for me to cover those costs here.
Roughly speaking, this is what the breakdown of my expenses and living costs will look like (in Australian Dollars), for volunteering from August 2017 to February 2018:
- Rent for 6 months in a low-budget, local apartment: AU$700
- Bills for 6 months (electricity, phone): AU$300
- Food and other living expenses, such as laundry and local transport, for 6 months: AU$2300
- Comprehensive travel insurance for 6 months: AU$500
- Set-up costs for a new life in Acayucan (including travel costs to arrive there, first night's accommodation, and new apartment setup costs eg for kitchen, bathroom etc): AU$400
Total costs for my volunteering for 6 months in Acayucan (approximate): AU$4,200
How you can help
If you would like to contribute to this cause, and help support me financially in my mission in Mexico, I invite you to make a donation to help cover my living expenses during my time there (as outlined above). You can do so by clicking the link below.
Any contribution, no matter how small, will be a big help! If donations miraculously end up outweighing my costs of being there, I will donate any surplus to the organisation itself.
* Please note donations are not tax-deductible.
Alternatively, if you would like to make a donation directly to the organisation, you can do so here.
Thank you!!
Total donations received to date: AU$250
A HUGE thank you to the wonderful people who have already generously supported me!!
