Intergenerational Tour Will Include Visits with Nobel Peace Prize Winners
New York, NY; June 13, 2012—American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, will lead an intergenerational trip to Liberia from June 17-24. The study tour, headed by AJWS president Ruth Messinger, with special guest and distinguished Jewish feminist and author, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, will focus on women’s empowerment and Liberia’s post-conflict development.
“This trip was inspired by our deep pride over the recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Leymah Gbowee, director of AJWS’s grantee Women Peace and Security Network-Africa (WIPSEN),” said Messinger. “Study tour participants will have the opportunity to meet with Leymah, an incredible leader who mobilized women across religious and ethnic lines to end Liberia’s devastating 14-year civil war, and President Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, to explore a nation with a complex past and newfound optimism. We couldn’t think of anyone better to be a central player on this journey than Letty Cottin Pogrebin—an early leader in the women’s movement and an inspiring Jewish social justice activist.”
In addition to meeting with Gbowee and President Johnson Sirleaf, the group will connect with grassroots leaders who are building a new future for Liberia by advancing the health, civic and political rights of women and adolescent girls.
The group includes several families, AJWS board members and other notable participants:
Rabbi Sharon Brous: Founding rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish Spiritual Community in Los Angeles, whom Newsweek recently named one of the U.S.’s leading rabbis.
Ruth Andrew Ellenson: Writer and recipient of the National Jewish Book Award for the bestselling anthology The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt.
Nancy H. Rubin: Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Commission for Human Rights and current presidential appointee to the White House Council for Community Solutions.
For more information on AJWS’s Study Tours, visit www.ajws.org/studytours.
For More Information
If you are a member of the press and wish to obtain information about our work or speak to a member of our global team on deadline, please contact Tanyanika Davis, Director of Media Relations, at tdavis@ajws.org.
