Crisis in the Congo

My sincerest apologies for not writing in so long.

I know many of us are aware of V-Day's new campaign to bring awareness to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but I wanted to post something about it on our blog as well, to make sure as many people as possible are aware of what's happening.

Rape is being used as a systematic weapon of war in the Congo. This is, unfortunately, not the first time this has happened, but it has never happened in such a great magnitude before- roughly 500,000 women and girls have been raped, forced into sexual slavery, and genitally mutilated by soldiers. These women are often so badly damaged that they become incontinent, further alienating them from the community which has already shunned them as victims of rape.

Several factors are contributing to the rampant attacks. The government is unstable and therefore has made no effort to control the bandit soldiers. Western companies are aware of the problem, as they have to protect themselves when they export (with almost no regulation) Coltan, a metal used in the production of most cell phones, computers, etc. but do nothing to stop it.

I got to see Eve Ensler speak about the crisis along with her partner there, Dr. Mukwege, who has "only" treated 20,000 women for fistulas and other problems due to genital mutilation and rape. He was an amazing man who actually gave me hope that men can and will fight to end sexual violence.

Here is a link to the V-Day website where you can find out more information:
http://newsite.vday.org/

There are several things we can do-
Spread awareness (students and young people were mainly responsible for spreading awareness about Darfur, we can do it again)
Donate money to Dr. Mukwege's hospital (it costs $90 to completely treat one fistula)
Donate money to their City of Joy campaign, which will attempt to provide housing for 100 women after they have physically recovered so that they might stay in the city and organize the other survivors to bring about change

Let's make sure everyone knows about what's happening, so we can start to change it!