In December 2022, a major initiative was launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to advance Jewish unity across Africa. Jewish leaders and representatives from across the continent converge at a conference organized by Kulanu, a New York-based organization supporting isolated, emerging, and returning Jewish communities around the world. Delegates from Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and three other African countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, the host, met with one objective: to build a strong coalition that would unite and support Jewish communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The meeting led to the formation of the Sub-Saharan African Jewish Alliance (SAJA), an organization meant to foster development, collaboration, and support between Jewish communities in Africa. Beyond the establishment of yet another organization, the founding of SAJA signified the beginning of a new era of continental cooperation among African Jewish communities.
Before the conference ended, leaders were selected to manage the running of the organization, one of whom is Sarah Nakintu, SAJA’s vice president. Sarah, who is from Uganda, doubles as a dedicated woman leader in Beit Tzion Hamitzvot in Mukono and founder of the Shalom Woman Network (SWODN). During the conference that brought together communities with different backgrounds, languages, cultures, and experiences, she helped create an atmosphere of mutual respect, unity, and understanding with a religious undertone. When asked at the conference how she felt about the creation of SAJA, she responded:
“From my observation and interactions, all the attendees are returning with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism about the future of Jewish life in Africa.”
Since its inception, SAJA has grown steadily and remarkably. Initially, it consisted of ten member countries but has grown into a larger network of some thirteen. The alliance has added new members such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, and South Africa, as well as some additional synagogues and communities from across Africa, boosting its reach and potential influence.
Such growth is a sign of the success of SAJA in its mission to unite the African Jewish communities. By welcoming new member countries, SAJA has opened opportunities for greater cultural exchange, sharing of educational and leadership development, and united advocacy for African Jewish communities on the international scene. Each new member comes with a unique experience that helps strengthen the alliance and build a stronger continental Jewish presence in Africa.
One of SAJA’s most significant achievements has been the creation of a network of synagogues and Jewish communities across member nations in Africa. Before the establishment of this alliance, many African Jewish communities operated in isolation, often separated by national boundaries and geographical distance, with limited resources. Communication between communities was sporadic, and opportunities for collaboration were limited. In fact, many countries were for the first time meeting Jews from different countries, thanks to the conference in Abidjan.
The alliance has connected these communities and facilitated collaboration in previously unimaginable ways. Synagogue leaders and representatives now communicate regularly, share ideas, and discuss minhagim as they relate to culture and identity. For example, in an interview with Emmanuel Yerimyahu of Beth Ha’arachman in Nigeria about minhagim that suit their culture, Emmanuel said, “I believe that through SAJA, our state will have indigenous rabbis who will interpret Halacha in a way that aligns with the Torah and our culture.”
The alliance has opened doors for communities to celebrate their successes, learn from each other, and support one another in challenging times. And since its formation, it has shown capacity by tackling practical problems facing some Jewish communities in Africa. One such example has been the food security support made possible by the generosity of American donors, notably Mark Gelfand. SAJA has provided grants to assist vulnerable communities with their food security, and to help families struggling with economic hardship.
These grants have made a huge difference in many lives. It has assisted communities to kick-start food security activities and to build local agricultural initiatives. The success of these programs is a testament to the importance of coordinated action by SAJA and the fact that international partnerships can truly make a difference in African Jewish communities.
These are commendable accomplishments but there remain still formidable obstacles to surmount. Many Jewish communities in sub-Saharan Africa continue to suffer from economic hardship, lack of access to resources and inadequate infrastructure. SAJA is growing, with more African communities joining the alliance, making the need for more funding even more pressing. Sustainable financial support will be needed to expand educational programs, strengthen community institutions and develop initiatives that can create long-term economic opportunities.
There is an urgent need, especially, for job creation and economic empowerment projects. Many communities need vocational training, Jewish libraries, Jewish schools that teach Hebrew, entrepreneurship, agricultural development programs, and other programs that can help families become more financially and religiously stable. SAJA will help Jewish communities across the continent not just survive but thrive for generations to come by investing in the economic and religious development of Africa.
Looking to the Future
The kind of leadership Sarah brings to SAJA is perhaps best illustrated by what she does every Pesach. For the past four years, in partnership with Kulanu, she has organised and supervised a national matzah-baking and kosher wine-making operation in Mukono, central Uganda—transforming a logistical problem that once left communities across the country without essential festival supplies into a remarkable annual gathering. This year, 5786/2026, 29 communities came together in Mukono, baking 3,780 matzot over two days under the halakhic supervision of a rabbi. That event produced enough locally made kosher wine to supply seder tables from the north to Kampala and Mbale. Communities sent representatives on overnight journeys spanning hundreds of kilometres from Kwania to Mukono for Matzah and wine. What began as a small test run in 2023 has become, in Sarah’s hands, an institution.
“Sarah’s Pesach programme through Kulanu is in miniature: practical, unifying, rooted in halakha, and built on the conviction that African Jewish communities deserve the same access to Jewish life as any community anywhere in the world.”
That same conviction now carries her to the United States, where she has been since earlier this year on an intensive agricultural training programme covering crop cultivation, goat rearing, and poultry farming. As part of her dreams of going global with SWODN, her trip began with joining a conversation with key leaders in New York. The skills she is acquiring are intended not for herself, but for her community in Uganda—to be transferred directly into the food security work on the ground when she returns in September. It is characteristic of how she operates: learning with purpose, building capacity that flows back to the people she serves.
Her time in the United States also provides a broader opportunity for SAJA. While there, Sarah has the opportunity to attend conferences and represent the alliance to an international Jewish audience by speaking about what SAJA has built, what its communities need, and what genuine partnership with African Jewish life could look like. It is the same advocacy work she has long been doing at home, on radio, and at conferences across Uganda, where she has been a consistent public voice for the rights of women, children, and her Jewish community. The stage is simply larger.
The potential of such connections is significant. New partnerships forged through engagements like these could open pathways to increased funding, educational exchanges, leadership training, humanitarian assistance, and economic development programs for communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. They could also bring the kind of recognition that emerging Jewish groups, still seeking acknowledgment from the wider Jewish world, deserve and need.
SAJA is a story of vision and unity. From its founding in Abidjan to its expansion across the continent, the alliance has demonstrated that when communities come together, they can achieve what none could accomplish alone. Sustaining and growing that achievement requires the continued support of the global Jewish community: through financial contributions, professional expertise, the donation of religious materials, and the willingness to stand with communities that are building Jewish life in some of the most demanding circumstances on earth.