“The Time of Suffering”—what the Q’eqchi’ Mayans call the 30 plus years of conflict that ended in the mid 1990s—hit hard in Alta and Baja Vera Paz, two departments in north-central Guatemala that faced brutal massacres and violence. AJWS grantee Union of Peasant Organizations of Vera Paz (UVOC) works in this region.
Read More
We’re proud to share that AJWS grantee OFRANEH (The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras, Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña) is the international winner of the 2015 Food Sovereignty Prize! The Food Sovereignty Prize spotlights grassroots activists working for a more democratic food system. The honorees are recognized for promoting food sovereignty by raising public awareness, organizing on-the-ground action, …
Read More
Sandra Caled was born on a day believed to be special on the Mayan calendar: a day when strong leaders are born. That came as no surprise to me. Sandra, a Poqomchi’ Mayan woman from Guatemala, is one of the first women to be on the governing body of AJWS grantee UVOC, the Union of Peasant Organizations of Vera Paz.
Read More
To say Masinda Masiano is formidable would be an understatement. She packs a punch, both in personality and speech, even if her frame is slight. Masinda is a Pygmy from the village of Mujo Mukondo outside Goma in North Kivu province. She doesn’t know how old she is, but I’d guess at least 60. She met us at the village entrance in a bright orange polo shirt emblazoned with the AJWS logo.
Read More
Mujo Mukondo village was “just outside Goma,” according to Joseph Itongwa Mukumo, the North Kivu coordinator of AJWS grantee Program for the Integration and Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP). But, to me, it may as well have been on the moon—and not just because of the potholes on the road. It was a different world, far from a major city.
Read More
Indigenous communities work together to defend their land and way of life. In Guatemala, indigenous people whose families have lived and farmed in one place for generations are now facing rapid encroachment on their land and way of life. Many Mayan communities lack official land titles, despite obvious historic and cultural ties to their land. …
Read More
The rapid growth of mineral mining across Mexico has ravaged local communities. Poverty and disease have soared for workers and people who live near mines and other development projects. The digging has stripped local land—ruining it for farming—and polluted sources of drinking water, multiplying health problems and miscarriages.
Read More