We celebrated our 30th anniversary 2015! In honor of this milestone, we profiled 30 remarkable leaders who have partnered with AJWS to build a better world. These are but a few of the thousands who have raised their voices worldwide with our support, changing the lives of millions for the better.
Bendu Musah
Promoting healing after Ebola
Liberia
Bendu Musah lost her husband, three of her four children and two siblings to Ebola. She, too, was infected, and at one point she nearly died in the streets of Banjor, a suburb of Monrovia, on her way to seek treatment. When she returned home after surviving the disease against all odds, her neighbors couldn’t contain their fear. “People were not coming around or talking to me at all,” she said. “When they saw me, they ran away from me and started crying.”
With help from Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program (THRP)—one of almost a dozen community-based organizations receiving Ebola relief funding from AJWS—Bendu found the support she needed to grieve and recover. She then began to counsel other survivors in her community to help them overcome the stigma they faced. The experience shaped Bendu as a leader and motivated her to found a women’s group committed to ensuring that women have access to funding to start or run small businesses.
Bendu is grateful to THRP for “visiting me, counseling me. They showed love to me. They were concerned about me. Now, I feel happy. Change has come into my life.”
