Congo rape victims seek solace

[Africanprince]

Congo rape victims seek solace

By Jackie Martens
BBC, Democratic Republic of Congo  

Victim Vumi is now shunned by her community because of her plight

The war in Congo, estimated to have killed three million people and involving armies from seven different countries, is coming to an end.

But, as United Nations troops move into areas previously ravaged by war, the true horror of what was wrought on the population is now emerging.

It was after a torturous two-hour drive along a windy dirt road, high up in the mountains, that we found Vumiliar Lukindo - or just Vumi.

As we walked forward to meet the tiny 16-year-old, she doubled over, clutching her stomach and trying to cover her feet with the faded cloth she had wrapped around her body.

She averted her eyes. Urine covered her feet.

Healing hope

Vumi suffers from incontinence, and cannot sit down because of the pain, the result of a horrific rape incident last October.


The victims have suffered, but they want their stories told
"The attack happened at night, and we were forced to flee into the bush," she said, in a voice barely more than a whisper.

"Four men took me. They all raped me. At that time I was nine months pregnant."

"They gang-raped me and pushed sticks up my vagina - that's when my baby died - they said it was better than killing me."

The men then stole her few belongings and her community, unable to live with the smell, shunned her.

Now she hopes only to be healed.

Community rejection

In a country ravaged by war, where rape is used as a weapon and having a gun means you can act with impunity, Vumi is not alone.

 We have many stories like this that make us shed our tears, I used to cry, but have now become more desensitised... this happens all over this area, sometimes to children as young as nine

Care worker Jeanne Banyere  
Spending only a few hours in Kitchanga, a small, sleepy village supplemented by many refugees of this conflict, we met many other women with equally horrific stories to tell, but who wanted such stories told.

Kahindo Ndasimwa, dressed in little more than rags, told of how militia attacked her village one night two years ago, forcing her to flee into the bush.

The 40-year-old was then repeatedly raped by four men - their legacy a continual stream of urine down her legs.

Bahati Ndasimwa, a 24-year-old with a round friendly face - but eyes that told of torture - said she was raped by too many men to count.

Her community then also rejected her.

Violent rape

Furaha Mapendo was staked to the ground with her legs splayed by 10 men, who then had their way with her.

With her eyes staring fixedly at the ground, the 24-year-old told of how the men pushed sticks and various objects into her for an entire night, six years ago.

These women all suffer from vaginal fistula, a medical condition found in countries with poor health infrastructure, which is usually a result of poor childbirth care.

In this part of the world, it is caused by violent rape.

The walls between the vagina, bladder and anus are torn, resulting in severe pain and debilitating incontinence.

"We have many stories like this that make us shed our tears," said Jeanne Banyere, or Mama Jeanne to all who know this remarkable woman.

"I used to cry, but have now become more desensitised. This happens all over this area, sometimes to children as young as nine."

Medical aid

Mama Jeanne - who also looks after 62 orphans - is one of a handful of dedicated people from the Women's Protestant Federation that network these remote parts of the Congo, providing counselling and hope to these women.


Dr Ahuka is no stranger to the war; he says he saw "so many bad things"
They are often the only chance these women, ostracised by their communities, have of getting to Docs (Doctors on Call for Service) and getting the vital operation they need to rebuild their vaginas.

Docs runs a medical centre in the centre of Goma, a large town with little infrastructure situated close to the Rwanda border.

It provides training through experience for local doctors while helping the community.

Faced with an increasing number of women in desperate need of this operation, but lacking resources, facilities and space, Docs has erected two big white tents in their compound.

The tents are full of women waiting for their turn on the operating table.

'Bad things'

It is here that we found Dr Longombe Ahuka, a 48-year-old father of three.


Up to four operations are needed for complete reconstruction
Dr Ahuka is the general surgeon at Docs tasked with undertaking this delicate operation.

Together with two other doctors he has trained, this team has performed reconstructive surgery on more than 90 women, allowing them to return to their communities.

Dr Ahuka is no stranger to this war.

He was forced to flee from the hospital he was working in when it was attacked by armed militants.

Hundreds were killed and the hospital looted.

"I saw so many bad things, it is an honour for me to also be able to repair [them]," he said.

'Savagery beyond imagination'

The surgeon recounted one case of a woman who had the barrel of a gun inserted into her vagina.

The soldier then opened fire.

"The savagery we have here is beyond imagination," he said.

"They use all kinds of objects they can lay their hands on," he added, making a plea for the "world to be told about it, to be told of this reality".

The women waiting face a double blow.

Associated with rape is the risk of being infected with HIV.

Of all the cases Dr Ahuka dealt with between May and October last year, 24% were HIV positive.

Women's dignity

Safari Masika was waiting for her second operation when we met her.

 
Depending on the severity of the injury, up to four operations are needed for complete reconstruction.

Wrapped only in a green bed sheet, the diminutive woman told of a brutal attack, one which had left her with a miscarriage and isolated from her community.

Looking me straight in the eyes, this proud 42-year-old mother of eight told of how, after this operation, she would once again be "able to stand with other people and praise God".

The men who perpetrated this violence will probably never be brought to justice.

But for the brave women we met, at least this operation gives them the opportunity to once again live their lives with dignity.

[Africanprince]

***Takes a deep breath***

The stories in that article are heart breaking, I really had a hard time getting through that article.

I'm sick and enraged at the sametime  

It just hurts to know that people are suffering like that...

[Bantu_Kelani]

The scale and scope of the human suffering in DRC Congo, is not yet an issue of great international concern. It is not important because no one bring it up like people are bringing copious religion issue on these boards. Should we conclude our fellow members are simply not interested in the security of native Africans? How can they say, "ONE LOVE" but seriously do not  address the ongoing genocides in Africa? It is clear to me, something called "compassion" is not being applied on every race.

Bantu Kelani.

[iyah360]

What are the circumstances that led to the state that this area is in today?

[Rootsie]

The Belgian King Leopold's rape and genocide of Congo for Mr. Goodyear's rubber tires in the late 19th century. 8,000,000 Congolese murdered. Relentless Western interference ever since.

[Bantu_Kelani]

What are the circumstances that led to the state that this area is in today?

CONGO still fights to have its fortitude in place after several genocides. My people have been set back numerous times, King Leopold II, Belgian brutal colonization, Patrice Lumumba's assassination, Western rule under Mobutu Sese Seko, invasion by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, economic embargo, Laurent Kabila's assassination, MASSACRES AFTER MASSACRES OF MILLIONS BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES. All these have been poorly reported to the international community. Millions of Congolese people have lost their lands and everything they ever owned. Children in millions without parents are all over Kinshasa wandering around, out there in the open in Kinshasa...

Our people have a natural influence in the region, if western powers let us organize ourselves independently, we will naturally spark a serious economic revolution of Central Africa, which will put us ahead of so many western countries. We are talking about DRC CONGO that has resources that much of the world needs in every aspect of today's technology. So, keeping us uneducated, powerless, hungry, locked inside Africa is advantageous to the ones that want to run this world like maniacs.
80 % of Congo's revenue comes from Congolese immigrants in the West like myself, who fled Mobutu's oppression, Kabila and his Rwandese's oppression, the total insecurity brought about by international community. There is no provision to assist Congolese citizens with immediate health, and socio-economic infrastructures, they are hopeless, unless the Congolese abroad help.

People there are traumatized by war and suffer from hunger and lack of hope. What Africanist Diasporans would do? We know how much Belgium exploited the Congolese people for the benefit of the western world. What did it pay back to the millions of lives in CONGO? No one cares France, Belgium and the Western world enabled one of the largest genocides of the 20th Century in Central Africa for the last 12 years.


Bantu Kelani.

[iyah360]

BK.

Thanks very much for the info -- so it seems pretty much the place is kept in anarchy so that the people do not organize and nationalize their resources.

Where do these brutal tactics come from which are employed amongst the people . . . the slaughter and brutal rape? What drives people into this behavior? I am at a loss to overstand this . .. and it is something that I may never be able to grasp . ..  but I would like to know as much as I can.

What are your thoughts?


---

and on a side note . . . this brings up AGAIN for me the legitimacy of a "world court" in Belgium. How can powers which directly contribute to genocide be TRUSTED to be a "World Court" upholding human rights?

[Ras_Legacy]

That article is unbelievable. I have never been able to understand how brothers and sisters of the same race, same situation can hurt each other that way.

What can InI do to help these women? What can InI do?

[leslie]

to deal with racism is one thing. but right now we need to deal with the men in our community. as i have said time and time again, black men hate their womenfolk. to think that a man could look at a queen in the eye and assault her being is beyond me. they are just as evil as the white slave-master. women, it's time to rise above this nonsence and free ourselves from bondage. until this is rectified the race has no hope for redemption.