They have things to say | From Survival To Governance

Women war returnees speak out during a gathering of the Shamba la Amani program organized by community development actor Bahati Mubuya Gladys in Mudja, Nyiragongo Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 6, 2026.

Their faces intense, animated, raw with emotion tell stories that no communiqué from any peace summit has ever adequately captured: stories of homes burned, children lost, communities cleaved apart by ethnic violence, and the extraordinary, exhausting courage it takes to return and face a former enemy across a shared field.

For Gladys, creating spaces where these women can speak be heard, be counted, be angry, be hopeful is not secondary to peacebuilding. It is peacebuilding. In eastern DRC, where millions of women carry the heaviest burden of conflict while remaining systematically excluded from its resolution, Shamba la Amani insists that their voices are not just welcome they are the foundation on which any lasting peace must be built.