LAP...Court Watch

Let's see...what have I been up to.

The Takoradi office recently held a DV Training seminar for LLVs, which I was lucky to be able to participate in. As part of a section on 'global awareness' I created a presentation on the domestic violence from a Canadian perspective. Hopefully it was somewhat helpful to the LLVs. It was great getting to meet some LLVs and gaining a greater understanding of the LAP program. I'll write more about the LAP program next week, but for this post I thought to continue with what is happening in the court watch.

The barriers I am facing are as follows:

1.) Language barriers - In Takoradi, everyone prefers to speak Fante; therefore, although the magistrate, lawyers and other court personnel tend to speak in english, the victim(s)/accused person(s) speak in Fante. As a result, I lose a great deal of valuable information.

2.) Being the "obrunie" in court has its benefits and drawbacks. One of the main drawbacks is that I am unable to blend into the courtroom atmosphere, which I feel is an essential part of being an observer.

3.) Being aware that an observer is present, court personnel may be performing their jobs better than usual. Thus my results may be different from what is realistically going on in the court on a day to day basis.

4.) Where I have to sit during proceedings is at the same table as the lawyers and other court personnel. I have no freedom to write things down (which sometimes may be negative). I tried to sit behind that table during my last experience in court; however, I was told to move back to the front table.

In terms of the language barrier, CCI suggested a translator. However, there may be costs involved, and I wonder how much significant information is "lost in translation". I am gaining quite a lot of interesting information on the general demeanor of court personnel, and I am noting anything I find to be remotely significant (mostly race, class and gender related observations); however, I understand that my main objective is to observe DV related cases.

The positive side is that whatever I experience (negative or positive) will allow me to make useful recommendations for the continuation of this project for future court watch volunteers. James will be heading to Ho in the upcoming week, so it will be interesting to see his observations.