Justin Jacobs
The First Woman Engineer in Mewat: This AJWS Partner is Smashing Indian Gender Norms
Today, 25-year-old Shabnam Khan is a minor celebrity in Mewat — a rural region of Rajasthan home to Muslim and Dalit (lowest caste) communities. Her claim to fame? She is the first woman from the region to become an engineer. She’s respected by men and a beloved role model to women. But her journey wasn’t …
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“We are just like you”: How one LGBTQI+ community in El Salvador transformed their town
Around the world, the rights and safety of LGBTQI+ are under attack. But pockets of progress – life saving progress – do exist, often in unexpected places. “10 years ago, our sisters were getting murdered here,” says Antony Montesino, from his home in La Unión, El Salvador, and a member of the town’s LGBTQI+ community. …
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Antony’s Story: Opening minds, family by family
Antony Montesino was born with a blessing that many LGBTQI+ people in El Salvador can only dream of: a supportive, loving family. But when both his parents died when Antony was 22, he was left to raise his four younger sisters alone. That shift transformed Antony into a dedicated caretaker and leader — a role …
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Kahory’s Story: It’s time to shine
Today, 26-year-old Kahory Ramos lights up any room she walks into — brimming with positive energy and enthusiasm. But her journey to embrace herself was difficult, and at times, dangerous. Kahory grew up in a poor, traditional neighborhood outside La Unión, El Salvador — with four siblings steeped in the country’s sexist, ‘machismo’ culture. Kahory …
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Facing online blackmail and sexual harassment, Indian women’s rights activists refuse to cower
Santoshi is the youngest of seven siblings in a family where none of her older sisters ever went to school and all were forced into marriage. As her sisters’ lives unfolded, Santoshi understood she couldn’t follow in their footsteps. She convinced her parents to allow her to go to school, but that was the extent …
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Life beyond survival: How activists are transforming homeless shelters for women and LGBTQI+ people in India
Losing shelter can be one of the most traumatic experiences of a person’s life. There’s no single cause behind this global crisis, but all people pushed into homelessness face the same question: Where do I go now? In India, a coalition of grassroots organizations from across the country, including four AJWS grantees, are answering this …
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“That’s not the world I want to live in”: Slow and steady, El Salvador’s climate monitors take action
Lucy Medina Serrano grew up with nine siblings in El Castaño, a tiny village along a river on El Salvador’s border with Guatemala. Her family has always relied on local groundwater from the well outside their home to grow tomatoes, peppers, yuca, aloe, basil, papaya, bananas and more. But for years, sugarcane processing plants upriver …
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