law briefs Santa Clara Law Students Study Human Rights in El Salvador anuary 1-10, 2009, twenty law students participated in what many have described as the most intense experience of their law school career, if not their lives—an immersion trip to El Salvador to study human rights. Hearts were broken our first day as we listened to Father Paul Schindler describe what it was like to be one of the first persons called to identify the bodies of the four church women who were brutally raped and murdered during the civil war in 1980. That was followed immediately by a visit to an extremely poor squatter community on the outskirts of San Salvador, where we interacted with hungry children and saw the flimsy, corrugated tin-roofed shacks that served as shelters for almost 500 inhabitants. We listened attentively as the community leaders described their struggle for land rights and explained the issues surrounding the lack of medicine even when they were lucky enough to see a doctor. By the second day, we had fallen in love with the people. Their warmth, their hope, their gratefulness for our presence were conveyed through their willingness to share incredible accounts of the suffering that is so much a part of their daily lives, all without any expectation of anything being given in return. The genuine hugs, shared so often, captivated our hearts.
“It is hard to explain what happens to a person while visiting El Salvador. I could say the most obvious things; the surprise of finding a people so compassionate and warm, the sickening enlightenment achieved from viewing slums and impoverished children… El Salvador to me is more about getting hit deep inside with passion, pain, fear, hope, guilt, and joy all in the span of an hour. It is a rawness of emotion and feeling that cannot be achieved in a society where email can be checked every five minutes and the tragedies of the world stand behind $2,000 TV screens. El Salvador changed me, certainly for the better, and I would not trade the experience for anything.” —D av id Reagan ’ 1 0
santa clara law spring 2009
D A N IEL MUR DO CK
“First, it breaks your heart, then you fall in love, then you’re ruined for life....” —Dean Brackley, S.J.
Nicholas Webber JD/MBA ’09 became a walking jungle gym for the children in an El Salvador orphanage.
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By C y n t hia Mert e n s, Professo r, Sa n ta C lara L aw