The AJWS community has a lot to say about what's happening in the world. Read our insights about the struggle for justice and human rights around the globe — and meet the activists on the frontlines of the fight to build a better world.
I am a Liberian who worked on the front lines to end the Ebola outbreak in my country, and I am deeply saddened that three new cases of the deadly virus were recently confirmed in a community near Monrovia — the nation’s capital and my hometown. This tragic news came less than three months after Liberia was declared Ebola-free.
Maria Magdalena Xalcut is in her 60s, but she has more energy than most women half her age. She is a member of Comité Campesino del Altiplano – Committee of Peasants of the Highlands (CCDA), a grassroots organization of small-scale farmers supported by AJWS. The group works in 11 regions throughout Guatemala to confront land rights challenges and meet the needs of rural, predominantly Mayan communities.
I recently met with Maria Auxiliadora Gualim López, the founder and general coordinator of AJWS grantee Nuevo Horizonte (New Horizons) in Chisec in the Guatemalan department of Alta Vera Paz.
The day began early. We left at dawn to pick up Eridania “Eri” Martinez, founder of AJWS grantee Puente de Paz, and we traveled to a remote area of Guatemala’s Ixcán region on the Chixoy River. Puente de Paz is a women-led organization that supports smaller community-based organizations like ACODET (Association of Communities for Development, Defense of Territory, and Natural Resource Rights).
Something that has always amazed me about the members of our grantee organizations is their resilience and positive outlook despite unbelievable hardships—situations that people in places like the United States could only dream about. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a case in point. The devastating disease put survivors through the wringer—physically and mentally. …
