Valeria is studying Global Law LLM at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. She joined the VACorps program as a remote intern in September 2020 and participated in a law internship at an NGO. 

“I chose South Africa, due to my interest in the country and yearning to help others in an environment that included diversity and challenges to what I knew. I wanted to expand my knowledge in law and be able to put into practice what I have been learning at university. What I loved most was the variety of cases I worked on, it was everything from family law to law of torts with a heavy dose of constitutional law. I was given a goal with independence on how to get there which pushed me to think outside the box and view things multi-dimensional rather than one from one point of view. What I learned about myself is that I definitely want to continue learning how to use the law as an instrument of good rather than enrichment and I appreciate so much what my Aleck does for people. It is truly inspiring and his easy-going attitude along with his sense of duty to each client made me feel really secure about going into each case. I will never forget the feeling I felt when Aleck asked us to help draft a case that was supposed to go up before the High court in order to amend refugee law, I felt a great commitment to my fellow human beings who are displaced in the world, not by choice and depend entirely on the laws of a foreign nation to provide them mercy. What I will miss the most is literally just working, because that is how much I enjoyed it.”