In the D.R.Congo women are often considered to be second class citizens. They are frequently victims of multiple brutal rape and abuse by militia or others. Sometimes they lose everything including their homes in militia attacks, and they are forced to flee. They can be badly injured and unable to work the way they used to. Sometimes they are thrown out of their homes by their husbands when they learn of the rape. As a consequence, ofter these ladies have no source of income and struggle to meet their daily needs.

The Heshima Project, seeks to empower vulnerable women in the Goma area, North Kivu, DRC, through the provision of financial and spiritual support and the setting up of income generation enterprises. 

Joseph Nsengiyumva, one of our partners at Comfort Congo put it best: 

“Our aim is to make the women self-reliant, lift them up morally and economically and to help them find a place in the very society that has bullied, tortured, martyred, stigmatised and dumped them; and to make them productive and able to look after their dependents.”