Entering the town of Hoima in western Uganda, it is difficult to ignore the immense transformations that have taken place in the past five years. A booming business sector has dramatically re-drawn the landscape of this once remote and agrarian town. New apartment buildings, hotels, and offices have sprung up to meet the needs of …
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Uganda’s 2,000 Jews have long maintained a modest existence. They live in the east of the country in a hilly, rural area that lacks paved roads, consistent electricity and freely running water. But this year, the situation for Uganda’s Jewish community, called the Abayudaya, has worsened. Twenty million people across Africa and the Middle East are now …
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On a recent trip to Uganda with American Jewish World Service — the organization I am privileged to lead — I was honored to meet Paul, an openly gay man who is working to stop bigotry, violence, and discrimination against Uganda’s LGBT community. I’ve changed his name here to protect his identity. The evening after …
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Last year, I conducted research on how sex worker-led organisations are dealing with the issue of human trafficking. I interviewed members of 13 different sex worker-led organisations in 13 different countries. At least eight of my respondents were sex workers themselves. The interviews addressed how the respondents defined and approached the topic of human trafficking, …
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Leah Fuhr, who in recent years helped Ahavath Achim Synagogue build its programming for young adults while serving on the local boards of the New Israel Fund, J Street and American Jewish World Service, spent the largest chunk of her time this year working on Jon Ossoff’s congressional campaign as the political affairs manager. She …
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Stanley and Marion Bergman are impacting the healthcare industry from two different angles. Stanley is chairman of the board and CEO of Henry Schein Inc.––the world’s largest provider of healthcare products––while his wife, Marion, practiced pulmonary medicine and critical care for more than three decades.
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Over 140 Jewish organizational leaders signed a letter encouraging Jewish institutions across the U.S. to support the goals of the Paris climate accord. “We call upon all Jewish federations, JCCs, synagogues, camps, day schools, Jewish organizations, leaders, businesses, and community members to identify ways in which we, the organized and powerful American Jewish community, can and must …
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Jordan Namerow confesses that she was one of those rare kids who enjoyed Hebrew school. Namerow, who grew up in northern New Jersey, has parlayed her early affinity for Jewish education into a thriving career as a Jewish professional. Over the years, she has developed an impressive resume that has most recently earned her a Schusterman Fellowship, …
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Two weeks ago, I was in Haiti visiting AJWS’s grantee partner Kouraj, which is the Creole word for “courage.” What an apt name for an organization led by courageous activists who are fighting for a very simple human right that still eludes people in more than 70 countries around the world. That right is the …
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When noted photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair learned she’d won this year’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award—given by the International Women’s Media Foundation and named for the German photojournalist who was killed in 2014 while completing an assignment in Afghanistan—things were a bit chaotic in her life. Just two weeks prior, she had returned home to New York …
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