Visit from Thérèse Mema Mapenzi - Centre Olame

Last week, Thérèse Mema Mapenzi, the Director of Centre Olame Bukavu in Eastern DRC joined us in Leeds to discuss her work. Centre Olame, is part of the Archdiocese of Bukavu. The role of this centre is to support women and girls, including survivors of sexual and gender based violence.

Before being appointed as the Director of Centre Olame, Thérèse worked as a psychosocial assistant and managed trauma centres in the Archdiocese of Bukavu for 10 years and as SCIAF local coordinator in the Great Lake region for 3 years.  She has received international acclaim for her fight against sexual and gender-based violence. In 2014, she was awarded the Coventry Prize for Peace and Reconciliation, in 2015 the Shalom Prize in Germany and in 2018 the Human Rights Prize from the civil society of Bukavu in DR Congo.

Learn more about Centre Olame and Thérèse’s work here.

Image source: Dawn on lake Kivu, the earliest rays of sun caress the town of Bukavu ( South Kivu). Photo MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh  (CC SA 2.0)