Esther grew up in Bonao, a conservative city in the Dominican Republic where discrimination against queer people is extremely common. While in university in Santo Domingo, the country’s capital city, she saw that resources for queer people were more abundant than at home. It was there that she realized that gathering spaces for queer activists …
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Please enjoy this reflection from Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp, who visited with grantee partners in the Dominican Republic last month as part of AJWS’s Global Justice Fellowship. In a community room nestled in a batey (a former sugar plantation) in Santo Domingo, three women from Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitianas (MUDHA) tell stories of radical change. …
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The fellows include seven rabbis and one cantor who will travel to the Dominican Republic to meet grassroots activists and later to Washington, D.C. to advocate for U.S. foreign policies that champion human rights in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading Jewish organization committed to promoting global human …
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American Jewish World Service (AJWS) strongly opposes the Dominican Republic’s recent wave of inhumane mass deportations to Haiti. Even before Dominican President Luis Abinader announced on October 2 plans to expel up to 10,000 people per week, his administration was carrying out deportations in ways that violated the country’s own protocols and laws. There …
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The Muñecas Negras initiative brings together women and girls, largely from communities of Haitian descent, in rural areas across the Dominican Republic — giving them a safe space to connect, take pride in their identity and learn about their history, all while creating dolls that share their skin color. Below, step into Batey Carmona to …
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It was Yanilda Juan, 23, who brought her family to Muñecas Negras. Today, her sisters and their daughters joined: seven Juan women in all. “This project doesn’t just teach us to stitch dolls. It teaches us to love ourselves, our roots, our ancestors, our hair, our skin. To understand that everything we have is gold, …
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Juanita ‘Kika’ Antelis Juan is the oldest Juan sister, at 26. For Kika, Muñecas Negras inspired an extraordinary change in her life. She grew up in a family of 10 and was married when she turned 15 (In the Dominican Republic, marriage is often forced upon adolescent girls by families struggling financially, to lessen her …
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Aiding Haitian earthquake survivors
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Dominican-Haitian communities help earthquake survivors. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake, AJWS grantee Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitiana (MUDHA) organized Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic to rapidly respond to the immediate needs of disaster victims across the border. Just 48 hours after the disaster, MUDHA mobilized Dominican-Haitian communities to assist people in some …
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