War,dictatorships, refuge, transition, and hope.

My African colleagues are absolutely amazing. They are all a million times smarter than the Americans, and have endured so much in terms of having to live under the most severely restrictive circumstances. One is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) who is living in South Africa. He was a student political protester, was kidnapped and imprisoned by his government. He came to South Africa in 2001 seeking asylum, bringing his wife and children with him.

At first he was denied the right to work and study in S.A. pending his asylum application. But now, he is a candidate for his attorney's license (he has his law degree but has not passed his boards) and works for the Ministry of Home Affairs. The South African government no longer generally restricts the ability for asylum-seekers to obtain work or receive education, as the Constitutional Court held (in 2003, Minister of Home Affairs v. Watchenuka) that the right to work is embodied under the right to dignity in the South African constitution and is therefore a fundamental right of all people. Therefore, any attempt by government to impose a broadly applicable restriction on this right is unconstitutional.

Anyway, Jean-Paul (the refugee) told us about how difficult it is to prove the requisite elements in support of his asylum application. Makes you want to rethink our asylum requirements. Jean-Paul probably would have been killed with his family had he not been granted asylum in S.A.

There are other students in my program who are from the DRC, and because they have engaged in political opposition against the Congolese government while in South Africa, they will likely have to seek asylum as well. But -- and here's where the hope comes in -- they have chosen to study law as a means to bring about social and political justice to their home country.