Bios
I’m an attorney and fiction author. Having worked in human rights in South Africa, Europe, Brazil, and the U.S., I’ve learned how difficult the field can be. You could say that a turning point happened when I suffered from severe stress while working with asylum seekers in Cape Town. Frustrated with a system that required providing legal services to as many as fifteen deserving clients in a morning, I realized that my ideals were not turning out to be good for my well-being.
My friends and colleagues came to the rescue. With their help, I was able to parlay my personal setbacks into an empowerment project that is now considered a model for non-profits working with marginalized refugee communities.
Now I divide my time between Brooklyn and the small farm where I grew up in New Jersey.
But I continue to believe that human rights are important. I hope that this blog will make a small contribution to understanding the role of human rights in our lives.
Deji Olukotun attended Yale College, Stanford Law School, and the University of Cape Town. He is admitted to the California Bar.
