21 de September de 2021 Blog By washington@cejil.org

Angela Vorpahl on the Norma Vorpahl Human Rights Fellowship

 

My grandmother, Norma Vorpahl (or “Mema” as she was belovedly known by her 19 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and 25 nieces and nephews), was the bedrock of the Vorpahl family. A lover, a fighter, and a wickedly smart card player, Mema created a corner of the world full of laughter and comfort food that could cure any pain that life brought upon us.

 

When Mema passed away, she left behind a family who embodied every inch of her love and kindness.

 

As fate would have it, I took that love with me to an unexpected community. One I found in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Throughout my life the idea of “giving back” always felt like a homework item to check off of some divine list. But as the years went by, I found myself searching for a more personal motivation. A cause where I truly felt connected and could see my presence make real ripple effects.

 

It wasn’t until I walked through the doors of CEJIL that I found that cause.

 

I have never been so in awe of the enthusiasm, talent, and never-back-down energy that I witnessed in the talented attorneys and human rights activists I had the pleasure of working with at CEJIL. It became immediately obvious to me that this pursuit was something that I wanted to be a part of.

 

So many of us become lawyers because we want to help people. Simple as that. When we start out we usually don’t know exactly what that means or what that looks like, but the desire is there. Yet along the way so many factors change our trajectory — the astronomical cost of a law degree, the limited number of positions in the public interest sector, and the far more “rational” choice of a private sector path.

 

With this fellowship, I hope to help bridge the gap between the dream of so many young lawyers to work in the human rights community and the desperate need of countless victims to have passionate attorneys fight for them. I could not imagine a more deserving mission or a more worthy organization to carry it out.

 

Thank you Mema, for giving me the chance to find this incredible cause and advance its purpose in this small way. May your love and fire for life continue to live on.