A Shelter to Rebuild

A woman enters a corrugated iron shelter in Mudja, Nyiragongo Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 6, 2026, during the Shamba la Amani program led by community development actor Bahati Mubuya Gladys.

The sparse, utilitarian structure set against a grey sky on bare volcanic terrain speaks to the precarious living conditions facing tens of thousands of war returnees in North Kivu, many of whom have come back to villages stripped of infrastructure, livelihoods, and inter-community trust. Gladys' program does not offer these women rebuilt houses.

It offers something more durable: a shared economic foundation and a reason to stay together and begin again. In a region where the cycle of displacement and return has repeated itself for three decades, Shamba la Amani represents a deliberate bet on permanence over flight.