Temporary Mama Shujaa School

Hero Women Rising, DRC

Children outside of school, Hero Women Rising (DRC)

In December 2023, Hero Women Rising received a grant from GO Campaign for the purpose of launching a temporary school in the Mikenge Internal Displacement Camp in South Kivu Province, D.R. Congo. The project provided education for a year to 235 students from kindergarten to 8th grade, including 113 girls.  

Hero Women Rising was founded by Neema Namadamu in 2012 to support rural Congolese women and girls. They aim to improve the conditions in which women and adolescent girls live in South Kivu province, eastern D.R. Congo. To achieve this end, they use education and technology to amplify women’s voices; teach them to advocate for their rights and for the natural environment; build their economic capacity; and support the development of other community grassroots women’s organizations.   

As girl’s education in the region was very limited, with 94% of girls in the area not completing high school and many lacking even an elementary education, Neema set out to help educate these girls directly with the founding of the Mama Sujaa School for Girls. Six years into the conflict the population remains displaced in the Mikenge IDP camp, but Neema’s dream to educate the Itombwe youth has come true through the founding of a temporary Maman Sujaa school in the IDP camp. Despite the project’s disruption due to conflict, Hero Women Rising has proven incredibly adaptive to aiding these girls in their new environment. Among its 10 graduating students, there was a 100% pass rate on the national school exit exam (ENAFEP), a notable achievement for its first graduating class. The school also distinguishes itself for its focus on foreign language instruction in English and French, as well as computer science coursework.