Joseph Effiong, a Ford Foundation Fellow from Nigeria, is a graduate student in Sustainable Development at the School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont. Before joining SIT in 2006, Joseph worked as the Director of a local nonprofit in Nigeria which focuses on Sustainable Agriculture and Education Capacity Building Programs. His internship with AFJN is part of SIT’s graduate requirements and he is hoping to use this opportunity to learn how advocacy campaigns are planned, managed and implemented in a global context. The challenges of coming from a region plagued by oil pollution and underdevelopment has motivated him to acquire skills in the advocacy and agenda setting process that will ensure effective civil society engagement with government for social change.

Barbie Fischer is in her senior year at Great Lakes Christian College based in Lansing, Michigan. She is completing her Bachelors Degree in Cross-Cultural Ministries during her internship this fall. Barbie first became interested in Africa in high school, after viewing a television special focused on children in Uganda. With her interest in religion and politics she found a desire to learn how AFJN, being a faith based organization, functions in U.S. policy making. Barbie has experience working in the medical field, which has made her a prime candidate to focus on the HIV/AIDS epidemic during her time with AFJN. Barbie hopes to find a career focused on changing U.S. policies or with an African organization in the field.  

Mary Hansen is an American University sophomore studying International Service with a focus in International Development and Economics. Originally from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, she enjoys exploring the culturally diverse Washington, DC, area. Although she is focusing her studies on the Latin American region, Mary has always had an interest in Africa after hearing stories about her parents’ missionary work in Tanzania. At AFJN, she will be researching Child Soldiers and AFRICOM.

Alexis Nadin is a sophomore at American University where she is studying International Relations and Political Science. Alexis has a passion for Africa and a sincere desire to learn about the continent—the cultures, struggles, and hopes. She hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but has always longed to live in DC. Since her arrival here she has had quite a few eye opening experiences and has jumped at the opportunity to learn from them. This semester, she  will be spending a majority of her time at the office of Congo Global Action which has taken on the immense task of putting together a national advocacy conference.

Reflections of an AFJN Summer Intern

  The first issue in Africa that caught my immediate attention was the use of children in armed forces.  Before becoming an intern at AFJN, I was aware that child soldiers existed; however, I was not knowledgeable about the issue. I hadn’t heard about the process of becoming a child soldier, their lives as soldiers, or the struggles that await them once their service has ended.  As I researched, the frequent discussion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) sparked my interest. 

The use of child soldiers in the LRA in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan is a well-known concern. The LRA has committed numerous humanitarian crimes against its own people, including, but not limited to, kidnapping, raping, and killing.