Christine Bodewes is currently a PhD student at the University of London, School of Oriental Studies and African studies. Her thesis explores the role of a Catholic parish, as a member of civil society, in promoting the consolidation of democracy and human rights at the grass roots level in Kibera slum. Bodewes received a B.A. with honors in Government and History from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame in 1987 then went on to receive a J.D. degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1990. Prior to starting her PhD, Bodewes volunteered with the Maryknoll Lay Missioners from 1997 to 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2001, she founded the Office of Human Rights in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya and Sub-Sahara Africa. This Office is a grass roots program that provides free legal services, civic education and advocacy on human rights issues to slum dwellers living in Kibera and neighboring slum areas. Prior to her work in Kibera, she co-founded the land rights program at the Kituo Cha Sheria (Legal Aid Clinic) in Nairobi, Kenya, where she, along with a team of Kenyan lawyers, provided legal advice and representation to slum communities faced with acute land and housing violations. She has published Transformation in Urban Slums, Voices of Kibera, Kenya (2005), in addition to numerous chapters and articles on housing rights in Kenya.
Before working in Kenya, she was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd., where she practiced in the area of corporate securities litigation from 1990 to 1997.
