Both women, young girls and even babies, remain targets for vicious sexual attacks, genital mutilation and torture and humiliation. Women often disappear from their homes, captured by groups of rebel soldiers and enforced into a lifestyle of sexual slavery, never to be returned to their loved ones. In a land where gender discrimination is the norm, it is common for women to be left for dead in the forest like animals.
Christine was born in the city of Bukavu, Congo to a Congolese mother and Belgian father and raised with an appreciation for both cultures. She sees herself as a 'citizen of the world', having been raised there and speaks French and at least 4 African languages fluently. She began fighting against injustice at an early age, having been exposed to so much prejudice and discrimination, especially due to her being the child of an inter-racial couple. Christine was sent away to a catholic boarding school in Belgium at the age of 12, but always relished every opportunity to return home to 'her jungle'.
In 1994 Christine was a schoolteacher for a Belgian School in the Congo when refugees first began arriving from their neighbouring country of Rwanda. Little did she or the people of Congo know that their arrival would spark a rapid deterioration to the already fragile peace-keeping efforts within their own region. A group of rebel forces within the DRC itself were already at loggerheads with the government, but the refugees from Rwanda were followed by a band of Hutu rebel soldiers, who were led by rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and were known to have taken part in the genocide over the border in Rwanda. The DRC's internal wealth made it a target for Nkunda and his men, who clearly saw the instability of the Congo as an opportunity to take control of the resource-laden country and immediately began an offensive. Within months, the country fell into a state of chaos, with not just one but two rebel forces fighting to overthrow the Congolese government.
Casualties of War
Caught between the crossfire, the women and children were the first to suffer and the emergence of barbaric and senseless acts of violence quickly became the trademark of the war. Christine's life was changed dramatically when the war invaded the home of her best friend. ''One of the first cases of rape in 1998 was my best friend, coloured like me,'' She explains, still having to keep her friends details confidential, for fear of reprisals, ''She was gang raped by the soldiers and killed.'' Then in 2000 an 18 month old baby girl with broken legs was brought into her office. ''She'd also been gang-raped and died in my arms, right there in my office. (And)...I knew something really terrible was happening here and we had to try and alert the world.''
Around the same time, Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Christian surgeon who fled the fighting in Lemera, a town in South-Kivu, settled with his family in Bukavu. His arrival would be significant in the road to recovery for countless of Congo's women. Years before, when he was young, Denis had accompanied his father - a pastor - on home visits, where he had first contact with 'patients'. His father would pray for the women and they were always grateful, but Denis always left their homes feeling frustrated. He wanted to do more than just pray for them, though he knew spiritual healing was an important part of the process; he wanted to learn how to take away their physical pain too.
Years later, the newly qualified doctor had been working successfully at a Christian hospital in Lemera when the war broke out and the hospital was completely destroyed. He decided to settle in Bukavu and on his arrival couldn't believe what he found. Women had fled from their villages, sometimes travelling through the jungle or dirt roads, for days and weeks on end. Many were badly injured, having survived brutal sexual attacks, mutilations, suffering from genital lesions and bleeding severely.
They arrived needing immediate medical attention, but had nowhere to go. Some of those who fled whilst pregnant simply came to die after labouring for hours unsuccessfully. In addition to the severe psychological impact, many survivors were left with genital lesions, traumatic fistulae and other physical wounds, as well as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Local response to support such survivors are hindered by a lack of resources. Additionally, there was near total impunity for these crimes as perpetrators almost always walked free.
(c)Copyright Anna Marie Hopewell, 2010, Precious Woman Magazine.
To read Part 2 of 'Femicide: Violence In The Congo'; [Click Here... ]
THE STATS
* Deaths 5.4 million since 1998 due to war-related violence, disease and hunger (International Rescue Committee)
* Uprooted by violence Almost 1.4 million people are internally displaced (U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, April 2008)
* About 344,000 Congolese refugees in other African countries(UNHCR, May 2008) Almost 850,000 displaced in North Kivu(UNHCR, April 2008)
* Natural wealth 18 natural resources fuel conflict in Congo today: bauxite/aluminium, cadmium, cassiterite, coal, cobalt, copper, coltan, diamonds, gas, gold, iron ore, lead, manganese, oil, silver, timber, uranium and zinc (Source: Global Witness)
* Rape: At least 40,000 survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Congo (U.N. World Health Organisation, 2005)
* Today, several armed groups still use sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. Further, international actors, including UN personnel, have been implicated in perpetrating sexual violence in the DRC. Armed actors systematically violate women and girls in the streets, fields, and homes. The armed actors in the DRC have perpetrated gender-based violence through various forms, including sexual slavery, kidnapping, forced recruitment, forced prostitution, and rape.
* The extent of gender-based violence in the DRC can only be estimated, though sexual violence is understood to be widespread. In the province of South Kivu alone, local health centres report an average of 40 women raped daily. Sexual violence in Congo is vastly under-reported due to insecurity in or inaccessibility to many areas and the physical or material inability of some victims to travel. Further, survivors may fear reprisals by perpetrators if they were to come forward.
How YOU can help:
* Write to the President of DRC, His Excellency the President of DR Congo Joseph Kabila Kabange, urging the Government to do more to stop violence against women and girls and bring perpetrators to justice. Send letters C/O UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, P.O. Box 3862, New York, NY 10163). Download a prototype letter you can sign and send from
[Write to the President... ]
* Many women and their children who fled the violence in Congo are now homeless or living on the streets in neighbouring towns and villages. We are working to establish 'Precious Homes' to help provide such women with emergency shelter and a route back to restoration and owning their own family home. To make a donation, fund raise for this cause or find out more information, please visit; [Visit JHM Global... ]
