Jewish World Watch in the Congo

categories: Activism & Advocacy, War Crimes & Crimes Against Humanity

Published November 08, 2009 @ 12:52PM PT

"When your translator is in tears, you know you're in trouble."

My friends at Jewish World Watch (JWW) are currently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on a mission to record survivor testimony and to visit organizations working on the ground in the region. The travelers are diligently posting blogs, photographs, Tweets, and more and they make their way through what must be an emotionally and physically exhausting trip.

Here's more information about JWW and the Congo trip from JWW staffer Ari Averbach:

Jewish World Watch is a California non-profit dedicated to combating genocide and egregious violations of human rights. Its first five years have been focused on the ongoing genocide in Sudan. JWW has mobilized the community by educating its constituents, advocating for policies to stop the genocide, and raising funds for refugee relief projects to alleviate the suffering of the survivors. On a visit to refugee camps in Chad at the end of 2007, the leaders of JWW met with Darfuri survivors and assessed the effectiveness of their many projects, including its Solar Cooker Project.

JWW has expanded its activities to now include a new campaign, Congo Now!, to address the ongoing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From November. 3-13, four JWW activists are on a fact-finding mission to the cities of Goma and Bukavu in the Kivu Provinces of Congo in order to meet with survivors and to research opportunities for engagement with local and other NGOs doing work to support the ravaged communities, especially the women. The JWW team is led by JWW co-founder and president, Janice Kamenir-Reznik, who is accompanied by Naama Haviv, JWW Assistant Director and genocide scholar, John Fishel, President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and others. The team is blogging daily, and on Facebook and Twitter.

[Photo from JWW's Flickr stream, used with written permission from the organization.]

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Author

Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.