黛布拉·布鲁诺
二零一七年八月七日
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对于玉吴来说，这一切都始于马拉维.
The rule-of-law expert got her first taste of international development work in that tiny landlocked country in southeast Africa. A two-year Peace Corps stint teaching English from 1995 to 1997 helped her realize that she was “fascinated by overseas development work,吴说.
That start eventually brought her to live and work in five more countries: 科索沃, 菲律宾, 德国, 伊拉克, 和阿富汗.
现在，吴把她的经历写进了一本书, 闪点:马拉维吸取的教训和没有吸取的教训, 科索沃, 伊拉克, 和阿富汗, 7月出版.
她说:“我受到了在海外看到的一切的影响. “I saw repeated American mistakes and ignorance—not just at the highest levels, 但在工蜂层面也是如此.” While enormous amounts of American money poured into countries like Afghanistan and 伊拉克, 她说, it wasn’t at all clear that the American programs were making enough of a difference.
一个恰当的例子:在伊拉克, where Wu was part of a four-month State Department program in 2010 to teach English to government employees, she noticed that while Americans were “full blown” in terms of sending money, 援助, 和人力, Baghdad’s Green Zone was still experiencing regular blackouts. 更令人不安的是, 她说, was that Americans took over some of the former palaces of Saddam Hussein inside the Green Zone for offices, 这就产生了一个“象征主义问题”. 有些人认为新的独裁者是美国.”
Wu also served as a rule-of-law advisor in Afghanistan in 2011 where she encountered some powerful cultural challenges. 一次, as she was explaining the American system of law to a group of Afghan judges, 刑事辩护澳博app, 和警察, 她问是否有任何问题.
One man raised his hand and asked her, “Did your husband give you permission to be here?”
吴说她并没有被这个问题完全震惊. “我理解他的初衷，”她说. “I saw that most of the students were very conservative and likely the heads of their families.”
She explained that she didn’t have a husband, so she didn’t need to ask his permission. Then she got a second question: “If you don’t have a husband, did your father give you permission?”
吴仔细地选择了下一个答案. 她告诉他们, “I didn’t have to ask my father permission to come here because I am beyond the age of discretion, 在美国是18岁.S.我已经在好几个国家工作过了.”
Next, she looked at their faces to see how well they digested that information. “On their faces was: We accept this from you, Jade, because you are a foreigner. In terms of allowing this kind of freedom [here], we will have to think about it.”
Wu realized that she might have addressed a sensitive issue in a way that worked for the time and place. “I didn’t want to get on my high horse and make a speech about women’s rights,她说。. “我在衡量学生们的感受. 在阿富汗之前曾在五个国家工作过, I knew that you have to step carefully when you enter a new culture, and not come across as an American who lectures other people.”
在阿富汗的另一个例子, Wu was asked to be the chaperone for a female law professor who planned to teach a course in another province. 因为它很远, the woman would have had to travel alone and spend the night there, 这会让人质疑她的声誉吗. “当我被要求这么做的时候, the restrictions of that culture suddenly became very real to me,吴说.
对吴来说，这种经历很有用. Wu, born in Hong Kong and raised in Los Angeles, says she has advice for American lawyers. “特别是如果他们在这里训练和长大, 碰碰运气是件好事, 一个机会, 走出他们的舒适区. Go to another country and work within the legal system of that country,她说。.
除了她在和平队的工作, it might have been the job she took right after Malawi that pushed her into an intersection of law and international development. 就在1999年科索沃战争结束之后, Wu was hired to help people who had been internally displaced by the conflict between Serbia and Albania. “It was the first time I experienced what it meant to be in a place when there was a complete breakdown of the rule of law,她说。.
法院没有发挥作用, 到处都是抢劫和家庭暴力, 甚至连交通路口都很混乱, 吴回忆. She decided to apply to law school and took her LSATs in Rome. After law school at the California Western School of Law in San Diego, she became a prosecutor and a civil and criminal defense lawyer in Phoenix. 她说:“我开始知道什么是计费时间。.
Now, she does electronic discovery work in Washington and promotes her new book. 她在寻找新的工作. “我就是其中一名澳博app . . . looking for the happy medium, where an international project also involves law,她说。.
当她不关注法律的时候, 吴弹奏巴洛克钢琴, 经典, 再来点斯科特·乔普林来拆散气氛. She’s also a huge fan of English history, especially the Tudors.
但很明显，她的真爱是法律. “What my journey has told me is that wherever you are in the world, the law follows you,她说。.
