Sexual Violence in the DRC

Today we visited 'L'union des femmes violees veuves et enfants orphelis victime de la guerre' (UFEVEOVIG)which loosely translates as the Union of Raped Women, Orphans and Victims of the War. (I now wish I had taken my French lessons more seriously)By the end of our meeting, half our delegation were in tears.

The centre is run by Madam Zawadi, herself a victim of sexual violence. Her mother was buried alive and her sister also violated sexually which is her motivation for the work she does. The centre had to leave their downtown offices when it was taken over by the transitional authorities and were given space by a pastor in a run down part of town.

Personal testimonies by a young girl of 10 and an older woman was the reason for the delegation ending up in tears. Initially when we were told a young girl wanted to testify we were concerned but reassured that the girl was doing this of her own volition and with the permission of her parents who were at the meeting.

This is the story of the young girl paraphrased to the best of my ability.

On the 16th of May 2007, I went to school and upon my return a man from the neighbourhood asked me to come for a piece of cloth which my Dad would use to sew a shirt for him. When I went to his house, he took the cloth which he said he was going to give to me, covered my mouth and cuffed me. He threatened me with a knife and took me to his bedroom. I was there for three days and abused constantly. I left on the 18th of May at about 10pm. He took me on his back and left me about 100 meters from my house. When I got home my father asked me where I was coming from and I told him that the man had kept me at his house. We went to the police station and returned to the neighbour's house where he was arrested.

The next morning the man came with his lawyer and took me to the hospital without any members of my family. The lawyer told me that if you continue to testify when we go back to the police station I will kill you and throw you in the river. When we returned to the police station I was beaten and intimidated. I was detained and only released two days later at 11pm. We went to another police station where we filed a report. The man was then taken to prison but released a month later. This was when I met Madam Zawadi who came to see me and took me to hospital where I got tested but had no sexual diseases.

Personally what I found most heart rending was the look in this young girl's eyes. There was no light behind her eyes, her eyes were dead and it is impossible to imagine the pain she has been through. Her case is currenly back in the courts.

The second testimony was by an older woman who hails from the Eastern part of the country. Again I will try to paraphrase her story.

I was arrested in 2005. We were arrested and beaten by about 200 men. On weekends, mostly Saturdays they will give us charcoal and dirt to eat. They will also bring their children who will undress us and finger us. They would beat us and cut us with knives. I had a 5 year old child who was killed and cut into pieces. I was asked to cook the meat and eat it. They threatened to kill me so I was forced to eat a piece of my own child.

One day we were able to escape. We run for days until we reached Kinsanga where we reported to the authorities. They said there is no room here, your captors will follow you so I was put into a boat. I was very sick...the boat broke down and we changed boats until we docked at a harbour. I don't know which harbour it was. I was taken somewhere and someone rang the lady (referring to Madam Zawadi). I was wearing sacks. The lady came over with some t-shirts and cloths. My friends who I had left behind had their mouths and vaginas cut. We have no one to help us. I was really sick and for 8 months could not leave my room.

After hearing these two testimonies the majority of the delegation decided that they could not bear to hear anymore. The members of UFEVEOVIG then told us that they worked on plantations and wanted to present us with gifts from their labour which included cabbage, rice, eggs, groundnuts and an envelope filled with cash. We were overwhelmed and not quite sure what to do. Here were the donors being given money. My initial instinct was to accept the food and not the money but I was assured by the interpreter that would be inappropriate as it was the cultural practice so we quickly got together and responded with a gift in return.

What we really impressed me about Madam Zawadi was her quiet passion and dedication to her cause. She shared pictures with us...in one photo were 3 women speakng up about sexual violence and in the far right hand side was a man armed with a machete. She told us that the man had tried to prevent them from speaking up but they were not scared. Organisations like UFEVEOVIG need financial, technical and moral support. Madam Zawadi's one request was that if we ever held any conferences or workshops to invite her to participate and share her story.

Nana Sekyiamah
Programme Officer
Fundraising & Communications