In December 2020, the island of Idjwi in Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) welcomed a new heartbeat. A baby girl, Noella, was gently placed on her mother’s chest – the first baby ever to be born safely within the walls of Matumaini Hospital. Matumaini was built through the shared vision of the Rebuild Women’s Hope coffee cooperative and Mozzo Coffee, united by a simple belief that coffee can be a force for good. Today, this maternity and paediatric clinic stands as a powerful testament of resilience and healing in a place where life has too often been fragile.
We have pledged to raise the funds needed to expand the hospital with a new intensive care unit and operating theatre. To make it happen, we’re donating 100% of the profits from our Rebuild Women’s Hope coffee collection to the project.
The Forgotten Island That Deserves To Be Heard
Situated near the border of Rwanda and DRC, Idjwi is often regarded as the ‘forgotten island’. Shaped by its geographical isolation and decades of political neglect, Idjwi has quietly carried the region’s struggles while nurturing a community rooted in resilience. Since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the mineral-rich Eastern DRC has endured relentless waves of violence from armed groups, with vast areas now under the control of the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel movement – one of the world’s most underreported humanitarian crises. In January this year, M23 made significant territorial gains in Goma, a city in North Kivu province that is home to more than a million people. In February, the M23 also seized Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, where the situation remains highly volatile (source: The Guardian). As fighting has intensified on the mainland, the conflict has displaced millions of people. In the past year alone, over 42,800 displaced people have fled to the Idjwi island alone, escaping violence in eastern DRC (source: RWH, August 2025).
Families arrive on Idjwi with nothing but the clothes they fled in, many injured, pregnant or ill. They come from areas where villages are burnt to the ground, schools are closed and armed groups patrol the streets. Their stories rarely make the news, yet beyond the silence of global headlines, life here still beats strong, profoundly human, full of courage and hope.
Matumaini, the Beacon of Courage and Hope
While primarily a maternity and paediatric clinic, Matumaini Hospital has become a true lifeline for the people on Idjwi. Its doors remain open to everyone. Noella’s arrival marked an extraordinary beginning for the community back in 2020. At the time of writing, despite the maternal and infant mortality rates on the island remaining among the highest in the world, 5,309 babies have been born at Matumaini. The hospital has also provided care to 34,007 outpatients and treated 8,840 inpatients for different conditions, ranging from severe malaria and cholera to respiratory distress and malnutrition.
In recent months, however, the arrival of thousands of people fleeing the conflict zones has put enormous pressure on the clinic, which already had limited resources. The health consequences of displacement are brutal. There have been outbreaks of diseases linked to poor sanitation, respiratory infections, malaria and malnutrition, rising numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS, higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and an increase in unwanted pregnancies resulting from sexual violence.
From February to June 2025 alone, 9,023 displaced people sought care at the Matumaini hospital:
- 1,811 came for general consultations, mostly for malaria, diarrhoea, and respiratory infections.
- 125 were in moderate to severe malnutrition, including children, women and elderly people.
- 1,049 required hospitalisation.
- 2,203 were survivors of gender-based violence.
- 2,956 were treated for sexually transmitted diseases.
- 771 arrived with unwanted pregnancies, many resulting from sexual violence.
- 108 were newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
The number of patients who require treatment is growing every day. The conflict on the mainland has disrupted medicine supply routes, making it harder than ever to secure even the most basic medicine and equipment. For an already vulnerable population, many of whom have no stable income, accessing healthcare has become even more difficult. With banks closed in the conflict areas, people are often left without access to their financial security. As a result, people are forced to delay or avoid treatment altogether, even in emergencies, because they simply cannot afford it. For the hospital, it means working and treating patients with limited resources and restricted access to medicine.
When Violence Travels without Guns
For many people, the violence that forced them to flee their homes does not end when they reach Idjwi. It often continues in devastating, often invisible, ways. Many have become victims of sexual violence and now require urgent need for sexual and reproductive healthcare. These violent attacks have also led to unwanted pregnancies. For women who choose to continue their pregnancies, many tragically lose their babies due to the severe injuries sustained during the assaults. Once a place for safe deliveries, Matumaini Hospital has now become a place for survivors of sexual abuse. Since the beginning of this year alone, it has treated nearly 3000 victims. These are not just medical emergencies as a consequence of the conflict; they are profound human violations, leaving emotional and physical scars long after the attacks themselves.
The impact of sexual violence in the region has long been documented, yet the scale remains alarming, not just on Idjwi. Victims aren’t just women; they are children and men, too. In February, Vivian Van De Perre, the Head of Mission in the United Nations Mission (MONUSCO), reported that hundreds of women were raped and burned alive in a Goma prison during the fall of the city (source: The Guardian). The situation is made even more worrying because of the limited access to treatment and necessary medicines. Several health facilities in North and South Kivu provinces have already ran out of essential medicines and kits they need to treat victims (source:MFS.ORG).
Holding on to Hope
Matumaini means ‘hope’. And there, hope is more than a word – it’s a newborn’s first cry, a malaria patient sitting up after days of fever, a mother walking out of the hospital holding her healthy baby. It’s the quiet courage of the displaced, the resilience of a community refusing to be divided.
We can only bear witness through our own eyes and words. The conflict, the violence, the suffering deserve far greater attention from the Western mainstream media. It’s not just Idjwi that has been forgotten, but the conflict itself – silenced and underreported. We’re bystanders, placed far away, privileged enough to be able to communicate with our coffee farmers and hospital doctors on the island, and share their story beyond its shores. We must hold their voices gently, amplify them without distortion, and let the world hear.
Now, more than ever, Matumaini Hospital needs to expand. Last year we started our Life Saving Coffee campaign and pledged to raise $60,000 to extend the hospital with a new intensive care unit and operating theatre. To make it happen, we are donating 100% of the profits from our Life-Saving Coffee collection to the project. However, this month marks the start of an amplification of the original campaign. We need to raise an extra $20,000 to cover the increase in building material costs since the project first began - a clear result of the catastrophic impact the country's unrest has created over the last year. In order to meet this new goal, we are extending the campaign until March 2026 and will be roasting and selling Life-Saving Coffee until every last cent has been raised.
The first instalment of funds accumulated so far has arrived with Rebuild Women's Hope and we're excited to report that this week the build for the extension has begun. Unable to wait any longer, the start of the project marks an important timeframe in which to raise the remaining funds, with the build is expected to take around 5 months. We don't have much time, but we do have belief and we thank you wholeheartedly for joining us and supporting this real-life lasting change. Together, we can help save the lives of those whom we depend on for our daily brew. And here's to truly fuelling positive change.
