From Ashes to Classrooms: Mama Shujaa School Reopens After Attack

So proud of our Mama Shujaa School staff that I just have to share this news!!!

As you know, on February 20, 2026, the population of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Mikenge Camp came under attack by the FARDC, Wazalendo, and Burundian military forces. The population of IDPs fled into the bush and over the next couple of days, made their way to Minembwe Center and Kawele (adjacent village). During the attack by the DRC government forces and its allies, the entire Mikenge IDP camp was burned to the ground, as well as the temporary Mama Shujaa School.

Being the resilient population they’ve proved to be over the last 7 years, these IDPs from Itombwe, neighbors of the Itombwe Mama Shujaa Center and students of the Mama Shujaa School Complex, started settling in, making Kawele village the hub of their community. At the end of March, the headmaster and staff gathered the 6th and 8th grade students and began preparing them to take the national exams for which their grades sit, in July. They then worked with the authorities and the student's parents to prepare to open the entire school of classes, pre-K through 9th grade. The authorities gave the Mama Shujaa School use of an abandoned school building in Kawele, so in May, they opened the Mama Shujaa School in Kawele for all 10 classes of students, to finish the 2025-26 school year, which ends in July. You will see in the photo that the there are more students than the faculty could hold, so they have the younger grades attending in the morning and the older grades in the afternoon.

On Monday the 25th, Mama Shujaa leadership in the Haut Plateau came to Kawele to congratulate Headmaster John Bagaza, his staff of teachers, the local authorities, the parents of the students and the students themselves, for heroically demonstrating their resolve, their commitment to the future of their children, despite the enemy's intention to cut-off any such future.