By David Chimeno Cano | director de programas
You are helping heal a community carrying wounds no one should bear.
In the villages of Kabamba, Kahungu, Katana, Lwiro, and Kavumu — where armed conflict has been a constant reality — your donations have made it possible to reach 631 families with something they desperately needed: to be seen, heard, and supported. Between July and December 2025, the Mutima Centre carried out a comprehensive baseline assessment using internationally validated clinical tools (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5) to map the mental health reality of the communities we serve. What we found confirms what the people themselves already knew: the wounds of war go far deeper than what the eye can see.
Three out of four people in our communities are living with post-traumatic stress disorder. Our assessments found that 74.8% of beneficiaries show probable PTSD symptoms — levels that exceed even those documented among direct survivors of violence in comparable conflicts. Nearly 77% show clinically significant depression, and 67% live with severe anxiety. More than half — 355 people — are simultaneously struggling with all three conditions. In Kabamba, the village most exposed to active attacks, the indicators are consistently the highest across every single measure. A mother there told our team: "I cannot sleep. I cannot stop watching the door. Even when there is no sound, I am waiting for it." Her words are shared by hundreds.
This is why the Mutima Centre exists — and why your support matters today more than ever. With the baseline now established, our team of psychosocial workers and community health agents is beginning individual and group trauma-focused interventions, prioritizing the 417 people with very probable PTSD and the 325 with severe or moderately severe depression. We are also addressing food insecurity and social isolation, the two most acute dimensions of vulnerability identified alongside mental health.
Thanks to you, this community is no longer facing this alone. Every donation brings us closer to breaking the cycle — one person, one family, one village at a time. Thank you for standing with South Kivu.
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