Law school took John Scialabba somewhere he never expected: nearly 7,500 miles from home and almost halfway around the world.

The 2008 Butler High School graduate and University of Pittsburgh law student is spending his summer interning in Kenya.

Scialabba is working for the Legal Aid Centre of Eldoret, a nonprofit agency that provides free legal aid to Kenyans, specifically those affected by HIV/AIDS or those who have suffered sexual or domestic violence.

“The work here is so pertinent and so important because so many Kenyan citizens do not even know they have legal rights,” he said.

Scialabba became interested in international human rights law while working with visiting Pitt Professor John Cerone to research alleged human rights violations in Macedonia in order to submit a complaint to the United Nations.

When he won a Nordenberg Fellowship, one of only three Pitt students to do so, it cemented his plans.

The fellowship provides travel and living expenses for law students who have arranged to complete internships in a foreign country.

In the past two months at the center, known as LACE, Scialabba has acted as an attorney, educator and advocate for Kenyans seeking help from the organization.

“Working with these issues in a developing country has given me a real appreciation for the U.S. legal system that others may not be able to recognize,” Scialabba said.

In a typical day, the Butler man could perform a myriad of duties including interviewing clients, educating the public about HIV/AIDS and writing grant proposals to continue the organization's pro bono work.

Lawyers at LACE must also prosecute rape, murder and assault cases, help win child support for children whose fathers have abandoned them and rescue street children, Scialabba said.

“The work at LACE is so significant because, while I have been able to help people's human rights, I have also been able to provide the public with humanitarian aid regarding HIV/AIDS,” he said.

Scialabba said a large part of being an attorney in Kenya involves social work.

He tells the story of a child he and his co-workers stumbled across in downtown Eldoret on their way home from court.

The child, about 18 months old, was malnourished, dirty and wearing only a large shirt.

Scialabba and his American co-worker, Taylor Staiger, bought clothes and food for the child, whom they dubbed Jenny.

Because Jenny's parents seem unable to properly care for her, Scialabba said, he and Staiger worked to get the girl placed in a children's home and start a fund to sponsor her stay and her needs.

The pair got a “large degree of pushback and frustration” from the government, he said.

“We were, and are, determined to see Jenny off the streets and into a safe children's home,” he said.

That determination paid off this week, Scialabba said, with the news Jenny had been accepted at a children's home.

Still, on the whole, Scialabba has found the people of Kenya “welcoming and gracious” and excited to hear an American's opinion on Kenyan food, American politics or if everyone in the United States lives in “giant houses like the Kardashians.”

Although there is much in the news about fighting on the Somalian-Kenyan border, he said that is hundreds of miles from Eldoret.

“We see on the news how dangerous and unsafe Kenya has become over the years because of the Al-Shabaab terrorist attacks,” he said. “I have never once felt unsafe here.”

Working in Kenya was not Scialabba's original plan, but he said he couldn't pass up the opportunity to help people, get international human rights experience and accumulate credits toward his law school graduation.