Student Profile: Q&A with First-Year Student Nomcebisi “Noma” Ndlovu
Nomcebisi “Noma” Ndlovu
Full Time JD Student
Yale University ’09 - Master of Arts in African Studies
Q: What brought you to law school?
A: I was doing some democracy and governance work for a non-profit in D.C. We were working on constitutional development as well as state participation and elections. I was working primarily on Southern and East Africa and I realized a lot of the work I found really interesting had to do with legal frameworks and rights and that it was really important for me to understand the legal basis and the legal theory that we were basing all of our work on. It just made sense for me to go to law school and to learn that background so I could have a more technical expertise.
Q: Where were you before law school?
A: I worked for three and a half years at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as a senior program assistant. Working at NDI provided valuable lessons in professionalism as well as international affairs. I worked on Southern and East Africa, primarily on Somalia, for the majority of my time. The organization was based in Nairobi and I helped the Nairobi office to implement the programs that were being provided to support governance in Somalia, primarily Mogadishu but also in Puntland. We would have workshops with legislative as well as executive members of government, so we would hold legislative drafting sessions for parliamentarians, rules of procedures for parliamentarians, or understanding how to support day to day functions of the executive in order to allow the government of Somalia to be a little bit more effective in its efforts and to connect to its citizens.
Q: Why AUWCL?
A: AUWCL seemed like the best fit for me and for where I was in my life. I heard AU had a good program, especially for people interested in International Law, but I also thought that it would suit my personality. I came to visit during the admitted students day and found myself feeling really comfortable with the people that I met and with the professors that I talked to. I found AU’s convergence of resources and access to be really incredible and I thought I could build a solid foundation for my legal career here.
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