We hope your High Holidays were meaningful, sweet and reflective. In the spirit of this thoughtful season, we invite you to think back to your childhood for a moment. Were you lucky enough to have a mentor — someone older than you who helped shape who you became? What important lessons did you learn — or what beliefs did you unlearn?
For more than 600 girls in Uganda right now, mentors are nothing short of life-changing. They’ve joined the Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW), an AJWS grantee helping girls to dream big amidst a society telling them their futures — and their value as human beings — is limited.
Come with us to Kampala, Uganda’s capital city, to meet MEMPROW as they change lives — and their country. After all, says the organization’s leader, Immaculate Mukasa: “If [women] are not part of the decision making in this country, then many of the decisions will not be in their favor.”
More Stories of Hope
- Elsewhere in Uganda, AJWS partner the Organization for Gender Empowerment and Rights Advocacy supports one of the country’s most marginalized and oppressed communities: migrant and refugee sex workers. Founded by a courageous woman who fled the Rwandan genocide in 1994, this organization supports sex workers to advocate for their rights and secure access to healthcare, vocational training and psycho-social support. Learn more here!
- Across the border in Kenya, longtime partner Indigenous Women’s Council (IWC) gathered to celebrate their 10th anniversary — a decade of building the country’s increasingly powerful Indigenous rights movement. Hear directly from Jane Meriwas, a co-founder of IWC, and see some stunning photos of this colorful celebration.
- Last month, world leaders, thinkers and changemakers gathered in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly — and AJWS was there. Robert Bank, our President & CEO, spoke about the Jewish values that drive our work, and why those values guide us to work with other communities around the globe. Watch Robert at UNGA 80!
Where Our Story Began, from AJWS’s Co-Founder
Almost exactly four decades ago, American Jewish World Service was launched as a Jewish response to global poverty, oppression and attacks on the belief that that all human beings are created b’tzelem Elohim — in the Divine image. Read this thoughtful, behind-the-scenes look at AJWS’s earliest days from our co-founder, Laurence Simon!
Maximize Your Impact: Give Through Your DAF
Consider recommending a grant to AJWS from your Donor-Advised Fund for a simple and tax-wise way to advance human rights. Your gift from a DAF allows you to easily make a significant impact and support our grassroots partners around the world — learn more here.
In solidarity,
Your friends at AJWS