| After enduring eight years of a silent war, we have survived a devastating cycle of violence and displacement: our homes burned to the ground by rebel militia, forcing us to flee to the nearby UN base. We established an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp—a temporary settlement to provide shelter and basic services for people who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict and violence. When rebels returned to kill us, we fled into the bush, then back to the camp, then to the bush again—this cycle continued without mercy.
During this chaos, we built a temporary school in the IDP camp and managed to hold classes for five years, even while constantly fleeing between the bush and the camp. Eventually, the rebels set fire to both the IDP camp and our school, forcing us to flee once more. We moved back and forth like leaves in the wind, ignored by our own government, the broader Congolese population, and the international community.
I say “here we are” because today, peace is finally returning. After five months of intense warfare earlier this year—when our plight finally became visible to the world—displaced families are now returning to the IDP camp, with more still coming. And, despite losing their books and uniforms in the IDP camp fire, 55% of the children have returned to the temporary Mama Shujaa school, and they are SO happy to be learning again. We hope/expect more students to come back to school soon!
Some of our displaced families are slowly moving back to their villages to start the long journey of rebuilding their homes and lives. Meanwhile, we are working to restore all of our programs so we can continue to support our women and girl changemakers as they pursue education, start businesses, and rebuild their communities.
— Neema |
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Your Support, Their Success:
Stories from the Field
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Dignity for Adolescent Girls
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A primary initiative of the Mama Shujaa is our Keep Girls in School program, which is providing washable, reusable feminine hygiene kits to adolescent girls in the remote areas of our province. We are blessed that the last two years GO Campaign and Obama Foundation have each partnered with us to sew and distribute 1,000 Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits to adolescent girls in remote Itombwe.
We were able to fly GO Campaign’s 1,000 DfG kits to Itombwe in 2024, but due to the ongoing war, we are still trying find a way to get Obama Foundation’s 1,000 kits to the area. Since the intensification of the war in 2025, there is no air traffic or road traffic to Itombwe due to insecurity in the lowlands.
I want to put government authorities and international NGOs like Red Cross and UN on alert: we need a safe corridor to get feminine hygiene kits and other aid to the area. Periods don’t stop in war. Life continues for this population. We need to be able to get food, soap, blankets, feminine hygiene kits and other aid to isolated Itombwe.
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Mama Shujaa Programs are Back!
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Street Business School Reopened!
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We have started back with our activities at the Bukavu Mama Shujaa Center, as well as the activities in remote Itombwe.
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Mama Shujaa School Reopened!
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The temporary Mama Shujaa School in the Mikenge IDP camp has reopened, after being closed for 3 months when the rebel militia attacks forced the IDPs to flee. 136 children are back in school, or 55% of the number of students before the militia attacks, and more are returning each day. They have no uniforms and no books, as militias burned everything in the camp, but children are children and are SO happy to be back in school.
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Reforestation Project Update
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The DRC is home to the second largest rainforest in the world, after the Amazon. Yet, it captures six times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The Reforestation Project creates impact on both local and global scales— locally, benefitting the entire population, with women leading most implementation efforts as the primary workforce, and globally, impacting the health of the entire planet.
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Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice
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Our founder, Neema Namadamu, recently joined 125+ frontline leaders & policymakers from 50+ countries for WECAN’s Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond! On Day 3 of the assembly, Neema participated in the 10th panel of the event: Women for Forests: Protection & Reforestation – Part 2.
Stay tuned for a special clip of Neema speaking on the panel!
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Please join us as we celebrate
Congo Independence Day
June 30, 2025
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Congo Independence marks the country’s historic independence from the Belgian colonial powers which happened on June 30, 1960. Belgian interference with Congo began in 1885 when King Leopold II established his own ‘Congo Free State’ and started to rule. His reign brought brutal oppression and forced labor to the people of Congo, which thankfully ended after valiant independence struggles.
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Your unwavering support
continues to be a beacon
of hope for the beneficiaries
of Hero Woman Rising.
From the bottom of our hearts,
thank you for standing with
and believing in us.
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