Those Who Survived | From Survival To Governance

Women war returnees participating in the Shamba la Amani program organized by Bahati Mubuya Gladys stand together in the fields of Mudja, Nyiragongo Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 6, 2026.

Their faces marked by age, hardship, and resilience look outward toward something not yet visible in the frame: perhaps a future, perhaps simply a horizon worth facing.

Brought together by Gladys under the Shamba la Amani initiative despite years of inter-ethnic hostility that drove them apart, these women now share not only a field but a common identity as survivors, mothers, and co-architects of their community's reconstruction.

In a region where the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic and formal peace processes repeatedly falter, it is the stubborn daily solidarity of women like these that keeps the possibility of peace alive.