Traveling to the developing world for the first time has aroused a mix of emotions for me. As I sit in my light-flickering room in the rather hot, however charming lodge in Winneba, a small town of Ghana, I’m beginning to decompress my feelings about what I’ve seen and experienced: I visited a slum and saw an arresting level of poverty. I watched a condom demonstration from a former sex worker. I met the US Ambassador to Ghana.
What has this all meant for me as an AJWS staff member, a young professional and, most importantly, a human being?
Processing poverty and the reasons it exists isn’t something I can do in a few days let alone a week. And while I don’t yet know what these new experiences will ultimately mean for me, I am in awe of AJWS’s grassroots partners, the challenges they’ve overcome, and the passion they bring to their everyday work.
AJWS’s work in countries and communities changes over time, responding to the evolving needs of partner organizations and the people they serve. To learn where AJWS is supporting activists and social justice movements today, please see Where We Work.