Digging for Tomorrow | From Survival To Governance

A woman affiliated with FUDEI, the organization coordinated by Rachel Malulu, works the soil along a street median during a community reforestation activity in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on February 21, 2026.

Against a wide open sky, her powerful stance with a hoe digging into volcanic earth in a city that has known too much destruction embodies the philosophy that drives Malulu's work: that rebuilding the environment and rebuilding society are inseparable struggles, and that women are their most reliable architects.

In a region where the humanitarian crisis has displaced millions and eroded trust between communities, each tree planted by FUDEI members is both an ecological act and a declaration of intent that the women of Goma choose life, growth, and the future over the despair of war.