Rachael van der Kooye is an independent journalist in Suriname. The last fifteen years she is specialized in environment and development issues, raising and improving awareness in Suriname. The quality and reach of her work is reflected in the impact of her reports, which encourage social action and national policy in various ways. She wrote major technical papers on environmental awareness for national and international organizations. For her work she won several national and international awards. In 2015 she published a book titles The Hebrew Identity, a research on the identity of people from African descent in English and Dutch. In 2016 she established de Foundation Hebreeuwse Israelieten in Suriname and in 2020 the Institute for Hebrew Israelite Awareness. At present she is journalism teacher at the Academy for Higher Arts and Cultural Education (AHKCO).
