jlavelle

Jenn Lavelle


A national movement against fossil fuels ignites across Kenya

When a massive power company proposed a coal-fired power plant to accompany a damaging new port in Lamu, a UNESCO Heritage Site in Kenya, an activist movement to stop it turned into a nation-wide campaign. The coastal plant threatened the local community’s health and livelihoods, from polluted fishing areas to toxic air pollution and displaced …

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Transformed by grief: A mother searches for Mexico’s disappeared

María Herrera did not expect to be quoted in international newspapers, meet with the Pope or see her name on TIME Magazine’s list of the 2023 world’s 100 Most Influential People. Fifteen years ago, she was busy caring for her family and running a jewelry and clothing business. Her life forever changed when two of her …

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Village vs. Coal Mine: Defending a sacred forest in Thailand

In the verdant, mountainous Omkoi district of Thailand, the Indigenous Karen community is gripped in a battle over the land they have lived on for generations. The 4,258 people living in the village of Kaboe Din trace their lineage far before the existence of modern land deeds—and even the Thai nation itself. The villagers are …

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A community of solidarity, support and Pride

In honor of Pride Month, AJWS asked LGBTQI+ activists around the world what Pride means for them. Koyel Ghosh, a managing trustee at AJWS grantee Sappho in India, shared: “You cannot experience Pride individually; it’s a collective feeling of Pride when we are able to do things for the community that has given us so …

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Creating their own path: building a gender-equal family and a more just world

In the bustling metropolis of Bangalore, India—home to over 13 million people and known as “India’s Silicon Valley”—a young couple is following their passions for sustainable farming and social justice. Kavitha and Narendra are devoted to protecting the planet through their work, while also striving for equality in their marriage—something that’s not a given in …

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Locked Down, But Never Silent

“Men and women are equal!” “Let us read, let us study!” These are some of the slogans shouted by over 200 girls as part of a rally—organized by AJWS grantee Nishtha—in West Bengal, India, to push for women’s safety and equality in late February of this year. The girls, mostly high-school and college aged, proudly …

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