“I am one of the women I serve.”
Neema Namadamu is a woman who stubbornly refuses to be a victim.
A remarkable human who has been described as having “the resilience of a warrior and the natural beauty of a wildflower.” Ever since she was born, she started making noise as a good troublemaker, using her voice to speak for the voiceless. Her disability did not kill her dreams. On the contrary, it fueled them: “I have a disability, but I am not disabled. Maybe I struggle more to get around and do everyday things than people without a physical problem, but no one is without a struggle of some sort. Because of my disability, no one ever even considered marrying me to clean and cook, work the plantation and have their babies. I escaped that cycle of life for girls in my country thanks to it. Cursed you say? Blessed, I say!”
Born in a remote region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, an environment that is violently oppressive to women, Neema was stricken with polio at the age of two. In theory, this was life-ending for her, in a place where a girl’s vocation is to be married. Not to mention that a child who has some problem or deformity was considered a curse from God.
A mother’s love can change the course of things, though. Thanks to her mom who was determined to provide an education for Neema, she became the first woman with a disability from her tribe to graduate from university: “My mother was illiterate, but she was my life-professor who taught me about love and faith. She never gave up on me, appreciating me for who I was, offering me dignity.”
Many years later, when soldiers attacked her daughter, Neema fought them with the most powerful weapon: Love. "Somehow I could see that the way of revenge only brings more avenging. I wanted to break the cycle so that my daughter could heal. I knew there was no life, no peace, no satisfaction in anger. Love filled my heart, including for my enemies. I met those soldiers, talking to them as their mother. They asked me for forgiveness and begged me to come visit them often."
“Maman Shujaa” means “Hero Women” in Swahili. Neema founded HERO WOMEN RISING, operating programs to encourage, educate, and champion collaboration for peace and women’s rights. It has become internationally recognized as a voice of freedom from sexual violence and, also, through its reforestation programs, it granted land ownership to women in a region where they never had rights whatsoever to property.
Follow Neema Namadamu’s work and grit, as the BBC named her among the 100 Most Inspiring and Influential Women in the World for 2023.
