STICHTING UMOJA is a Dutch-based non-profit organization of migrant women living in the Netherlands and other heavens. It ensures the continuity of the work of Marie Louise Balagizi, initiator of the SYNERGY OF WOMEN FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION OF THE PEOPLES OF THE GREAT LAKES OF AFRICA, anxious to contribute to a good integration and detraumatisation of African women living alone with their children in the Netherlands.

Speaking of the African continent, the war for several decades has forced thousands of men and women to flee their homeland and seek refuge in other continents. In the life of each migrant there is a personal history full of tragic events experienced that have caused internal wounds and hidden traumas that deteriorate the seemingly calm life of immigrants. Among them is a category that encounters many more difficulties than others. It is that of women living alone with their children. Without excluding the others, they have a lot of responsibilities and deserve special attention for an internal healing which will then promote a better integration in the host country.

The system and way of life in the host country is often different from the country of origin and this causes enormous difficulties which in some cases lead to the breakdown of marriages and many other dysfunction in the life of several Immigrants.

A great nostalgia and loneliness characterize the lives of most immigrants in spite of the people and services that surround them and who look after them for a good integration in the country of asylum. As far as Africans are concerned, certain realities can be better explained and understood by Africans among themselves. It is also true that their African blood and their African culture can not change despite the length of time spent abroad, for it is said that “a long stay of a tree trunk in the water does not change it In a crocodile and a pebble will never become a fish in spite of the time spent at the bottom of the water “.

African immigrants come from different countries that have waged war on one another because of political and socio-economic interests; This is the basis of the climate of mistrust maintained by some of them towards their African brothers. A degrading hatred paralyzes and prevents some of them from being happy and fulfilled. Women possess the natural potential of bringing people together and can build bridges and mistrust between African nationals living in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Some believe that the terrorism that is growing in our planet Earth, sometimes comes from immigrants. Immigrant women in general and particularly those who live alone with their children are faced with the challenge of ensuring a good framework capable of putting their children out of this danger. They need to be defended so that their children can not lose their roots, their cultural, social and religious values, which are the basis and basis of their balance within Dutch society.

Finally, immigrant women need to have a framework where they can channel their grievances as well as those of their children in case of need.