The national organization publishes a pamphlet which includes statistics--including that claim that since its founding in 1961 Amnesty International has worked on behalf of more than 43,000 prisoner cases of which 40,000 are now closed. But Sewall says those numbers did not satisfy her.

A week after the meeting, Sewall sent an e-mail to members of the undergraduate organization, compiling quotations by former prisoners and government officials, describing how letters from Amnesty volunteers had helped them.

"When the first two hundred letters came, the guards gave me back my clothes," reads a quotation attributed to a released prisoner of conscience from the Dominican Republic. "Then the next two hundred letters came, and the prison director came to see me...The letters kept coming and coming: three thousand of them. The President was informed. The letters still kept arriving, and the President called the prison and told them to let me go."

Sewall continues to write letters and table for Amnesty International because she is convinced the letters do make a difference. Other members agree, although they acknowledge the broader goal of the organization--to improve human rights conditions world-wide--is impossible to quantify.

"The broader issue of human rights, in general, is not something you'll ever finish, so it can be a little daunting," says Marco B. Simons '97, an Amnesty member. "But we have to focus on specific goals and not get sidetracked with the large vision."

Looking for the Little Things

Undergraduates who volunteer must come to terms with the fact that the effects of their programs are impossible to quantify, which makes evaluating the benefits difficult. They continue to volunteer, saying the satisfaction they get from helping, even if it is a small way, motivates them.

Elizabeth A. Tomlinson '99 volunteers through PBH as a big sister to a ten-year-old girl named Jessica.

"Whenever I see Jessica, she has grown," Tomlinson says. "I [know I am] having some sort of impact."

Tomlinson remembers one day last year when Jessica refused to pay attention to her, insisting on standing beyond the subway station's yellow caution line. As the train approached, Jessica continued to ignore Tomlinson until the conductor beeped his horn and frightened the youngster off the line.

"But this year she hasn't had problems like that," Tomlinson adds. "She'll usually listen to me and respect me."

Tomlinson says she has given Jessica, a little girl who has been let down "in pretty major ways" by adults who were important to her, someone to trust.

"One of the things that keeps me motivated more than anything else is that when I think about my own chilhood, there were a lot of supportive adults who helped me through some rough times," she says. "Even if I can't see it immediately, I really am making some sort of difference in her life."

For others the subjects of the service remain much more removed because of the nature of the service organization.

Benjamin F. Zaitchik '98, co-president of Harvard's Amnesty chapter, says that he has been involved with the organization for five years because he feels he is part of an effort that, collectively, makes a real impact.