the mind of a moonstruck mommy

I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to this subject. I guess it started because my husband had to write a paper on genocide. He chose the current situation in the Eastern Congo, but couldn’t decide what aspect to write about. Looking through his info I found out about the war against women that is happening right now in the DRC.

Besides actual death, women are terrorized with the fear of sexual assault and the resulting pregnancies, HIV/AIDS infections, exile from their families, incontinence, and death of their spirit. Rape, sexual slavery, and violence are a daily occurrence… females as young as six and as old as seventy have reported being gang raped. In a period of six months in 2003, one medical clinic received over 550 sexual violence victims. In South Kivu 40 women are raped daily. These are extremely disturbing statistics. And probably not even completely accurate, because if they don’t have to, these women do not report what happened to them. They are too ashamed and scared that there families will no longer want them.

This is a little bit of a special that was on HBO about the Women of the Congo.

And here is one of the soldiers explaining why they rape. This is just one group… there are over 11 fighting, and all have different reasons why they are raping their women and children.

Here is one woman’s awful story:
Shami Alubu, 21, came out of the jungle and back to the town of Kibombo last year, although she can’t go home. In early 2002, while working in her fields, she was snatched by Mai Mai militants, who dragged her into town, then kept her there for a full day, beating and raping her with guns and sticks. The whole time, she was within earshot of her 7-month-old son Florent, who was sobbing wildly. When it was over, she limped back to her house — but at the sight of her, her husband ordered her away. “It was like he thought I wanted to go with the Mai Mai,” Shami says bitterly.

Isn’t this just so disgusting? The men in this region have let themselves turn into animals over a war that wasn’t theirs to fight in the first place. It moved into the Congo from Rwanda and many of the arms used by the militias were provided by the United Nations.

Another interesting quote- “When the United States assumes the Presidency of the Security Council next month, in January 2000 – the first month of the first year of the new millennium – I wish to announce today that we intend to make Africa the priority of the month.” U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 6, 1999 In case you were wondering, about 4 million people have died in the DRC since this statement was made.

And, Since the outbreak of fighting in August 1998,
* Some 5.4 million people have died
* It has been the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II
* The vast majority have actually died from non-violent causes such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition—all typically preventable in normal circumstances, but have come about because of the conflict
* Although 19% of the population, children account for 47% of the deaths
* Although many have returned home as violence has slightly decreased, there are still some 1.5 million internally displaced or refugees
* Some 45,000 continue to die each month
It should be painfully obvious to everyone that these people need our help. And a lot more then some countries we are currently “liberating”. The problem is our government doesn’t see big dollar signs, so why bother helping. Hopefully our efforts will be put to better use with the change in office…. we’ll see though.

For More Info:
Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource
Peace Women
Amnesty International
International Rescue Committee
Congo Women
Women of the Congo
Women for Women
MSF International

Moonstruck Mommy