I am working for a refugee aid organization called PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty). This group works as an grassroots NGO with a small staffed office, but more importantly as a CBO (Community Based Organization) with 7 different branches in 7 townships in Cape Town. Townships are large impoverished areas with informal, usually shack, housing. PASSOP uses this CBO structure to reach out directly to refugees and asylum seekers (mostly Zimbabweans who have fled the collapsing Mugabe regime) to assist with legal advocacy, human rights education, labour rights awareness and some humanitarian assistance. It achieves this through protests, a strong relationship with Home Affairs, media outreach, research, policy recommendations, etc
My experience at PASSOP so far has been challenging and I'm learning a lot everyday. The office is a small one in which the founder of PASSOP, a secretary, and several interns work hard to get all the NGO work accomplished. One of my first assignments was to write affidavits for refugees and asylum seekers who were about to be evicted from their refugee camp. I also helped to write out legal statements for Zimbabwean asylum seekers who were undocumented and sought papers. Currently, I'm working on planning a labour rights workshop and network of organizations that helps to empower immigrants against workplace abuses.
My boss here is pretty crazy- he's a super eccentric, blunt and opinionated 27 yr old Zimbabwean. Sometimes I find it really really tough to get along with him, but otherwise he's a good idea man and is really knowledgeable. He can be really condescending at times and we've already had a couple arguments, but they all blow over really quickly. I'm glad that our working relationship seems to be working and I just need to stick it out another month! :) This Labour Rights network/workshop is going to be my main project for the summer and so I'll be devoting most of my time to it.
If you want to learn more about PASSOP they have a page on wikipedia- check it out! :)
Much love,
Sarah
