Stories

Popular Story Collections

Take a deeper look at our stories from around the world.

41 stories

Video

Watch our videos to learn how AJWS is supporting people around the world who are fighting to improve the lives of millions.

22 stories

Sexual Health and Rights

We support women, girls and LGBTQI+ people, as they organize to end discrimination, stop violence and live with dignity, safety and health.

8 stories

Ruth Messinger

A tribute to a truly extraordinary leader, AJWS’s former President and its first Global Ambassador.

63 stories

Robert Bank

Get to know Robert Bank! Robert joined AJWS in 2009 as our Executive Vice President. As of July 1, 2016, Robert became the President and CEO of AJWS.

14 stories

Photos

A look at the work we do to end poverty and promote human rights in the developing world.

23 stories

Land Water and Climate Justice

We aid communities and movements organizing to protect the land, water and natural resources that people depend on for their survival.

14 stories

Ending Child Marriage

Each year, 15 million girls worldwide are married before the age of 18—sometimes against their will. AJWS supports efforts to end child marriage by bringing girls and young women together to define their own futures.

21 stories

Civil and Political Rights

We aid communities and movements that speak out against injustice, hold governments accountable to respect the rights of all people, and work to recover from civil wars and other conflicts.

4 stories

Activists Up Close

Witness social change up close through these videos from around the globe. You'll watch a day in the life of an activist AJWS supports and learn how they change lives and build social movements for justice.

3 stories

Activism Through the Artist's Lens: Photography Series

27 stories

30 at 30

In celebration of AJWS’s 30th anniversary, we profiled 30 global leaders who have partnered with AJWS to build a better world.

All Stories

Through Struggle to the Stars: Lifting Up Girls in India

On a damp Monday morning this past March, we headed out of our Kolkata hotel to find the dark streets still wet with rain that fell throughout the night. The streets were just starting to pulse with life. As we drove through the city to Asia’s busiest train station, the reminders of Kolkata’s colonial past were on display, from the architecture to the traffic police in their white uniforms, waving on the traffic with their batons.

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My Great Grandmother’s Story

A Jewish narrative of child marriage at the turn of the century Many immigrants have hard-to-believe stories about making their way to America, and my great-grandmother, Bertha Dishler, is one. Bertha, who we called Bubbie, came to America at the turn of the 20th century as what was known as a mail-order bride. Thanks to …

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Defending Land for Rural Farmers in Burma

Although the majority of Burma’s people live off the land, few Burmese laws give them any control over it. In most cases, the government owns the land, and it’s not difficult for government officials and agencies to take it back—or let a major corporation step in to develop it for their own profit. It’s particularly …

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Mending the “Open Wounds” of Mexico

When 43 college students disappeared from Iguala, Mexico in late September 2014, the incident was just one in a long series of tragic stories. As the country’s epidemic of government corruption and gang violence has escalated over the past decade, more than 26,000 people have simply disappeared.

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Dominican-Haitian communities help earthquake survivors

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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