First, we want to wish you and everyone you love a shanah tovah u’metukah — a good and sweet New Year ahead! We hope Rosh Hashanah felt empowering this year and that you’re preparing for a meaningful Yom Kippur, whatever that looks like to you.
In this time of change and uncertainty, we created the AJWS Guide to the High Holidays — an inclusive, easy-to-digest guide to understand what each of these holidays has meant historically, and to frame them through a modern human rights lens. Download it right here!
Along with deep reflection, the High Holidays also offer us a time to gather. Being together with family and community, eating beloved foods and finding new meaning in old traditions are what keeps this heritage alive. And we’re not alone.
In this edition of Stories of Hope, travel with us to rural Guatemala. Earlier this year, and with support from AJWS, more than 200 Indigenous Guatemalans from 20 communities gathered to strengthen their fight against the palm oil plantations poisoning their water. They met with government officials and discussed a class action lawsuit — but, just as importantly, they found joy through food, dance, prayer and ritual. In a world where Indigenous communities fight for their rights to simply exist, this gathering was a sacred celebration. And as an AJWS supporter, you helped make it happen.
Paradise is All Around Us: Indigenous Peoples’ Fight for Clean Water in Guatemala
More Stories of Hope
- In Kenya, AJWS partner Lean On Me Foundation is helping young mothers to reclaim their lives and find hope by sharing their struggles and learning about their rights. Read this inspiring piece — an emotional reflection on the power of community by one of AJWS’s human rights experts in East Africa.
- Last month, Indigenous Thais won an historic victory when parliament passed a bill legally recognizing and protecting their culture and rights. AJWS partners were at the center of this years-long struggle. Hear from two of these powerful activists in a piece published by The Diplomat.
- Over 200 years ago, Haiti became the first instance in the Western hemisphere of enslaved people fighting for, and winning, their freedom. But they had to pay – literally – to maintain their freedom. Today, the movement for reparative justice still marches on. In this piece co-authored by Nixon Boumba, AJWS’s human rights expert in Haiti, you’ll learn about Haiti’s past and its present — and what it means for the global movement for Black liberation.
Four Decades of Feminist Grantmaking
In our 40 years supporting human rights activism, AJWS has prioritized women-led movements and organizations, working to build a more inclusive and equitable future for everyone. This includes our grantees in India — who helped overturn India’s “triple talaq” law in 2017, a policy that allowed men undue power and control in the process of divorce. AJWS grantee Awaaz-e-Niswaan mobilized women in Mumbai (above) to speak out, shaping a movement that pushed India’s supreme court to banish this unjust law. Learn more about AJWS’s feminist grantmaking here!
During the High Holidays, we wish you powerful reflections and the strength to make change in the upcoming year. We wish you joy, delicious food and the warmth of strong community. And, most of all, we wish you hope.
In solidarity,
Your friends at AJWS