Zawadi Nikuze: A Conversation about Women in the Congo

[Carl Webb]

Zawadi Nikuze: A Conversation about Women in the Congo

Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 6:00pm

MonkeyWrench Books

110 E North Loop

Austin, Texas 78751

Zawadi Nikuze, a women's rights activist from the Congo, will be joining us to discuss her work in supporting women who are survivors of rape as well as the sociopolitical conditions women in the Congo face on a daily basis.

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Zawadi Nikuze, 37, is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). She was born and raised in Goma, in the eastern province of North Kivu, as the youngest of four children. Zawadi has been active in peace work since high school where she was involved with a youth group that promoted peace through drama and songs and supported street children.

After finishing high school in Goma, she received a degree from Eveylne College in Kenya, and then moved to Kigali, Rwanda in 1999 to begin work with “Mwananshuti,” an outreach program for street children. She then became a facilitator in the peacebuilding program and Assistant Coordinator of the Friends Peace House in 2000. 

After four years in Kigali, she moved on to consulting work with the Change Agents for Peace Program, World Relief, and others, first in Kenya and then back in Goma. In 2007, she accepted a position as Coordinator of the African Great Lakes Initiative’s work in North Kivu. In this capacity she plans and facilitates Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities workshops on trauma healing and reconciliation with citizens residing in North Kivu. Zawadi‘s current work is with survivors of rape in counseling, listening sessions, and the development of support groups. 

Zawadi is a member of the Religious Society of Friends in DRC, and speaks fluent Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, French and English.

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