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59 Comments
- Seminarian, on 03/16/2009, -0/+45This story made me cry.
- JenniferInMO, on 03/16/2009, -6/+37I have read a great deal about this. As a woman and as a person it is nearly impossible to read these articles, but it is also my responsibility. These women need to know that if they tell their story they will be heard and that it will help to prevent such atrocities in the future. Please read and urge others to pass this along as well.
- absentmindedjwc, on 03/16/2009, -1/+22you dont need to be a woman to get sick from reading an article like this...
This is terrible - novenator, on 03/16/2009, -1/+21I can't believe 2 people dugg Jen down for speaking out against rape. Plus 1 person buried absentminded. WTF is a matter with you people? Are you pro-rape or something?
- WhoDoneIt, on 03/17/2009, -0/+14Sick *****.
- Soofi, on 03/17/2009, -0/+11Oppression is worse than slaughter. ***** your phony wars on terror, if you really want to do something, help the people mentioned in these horror stories and do something about Congo. The same message goes out to Al-Qaeda and anyone who supports their ideology - you want to fight a holy war in God's cause, rescue the people who are being brutalized like this, that is what the real Jihad is about.
Human animal nature ***** sucks. When it is kept in check, like a wild horse that's been tamed, it will carry you far - human civilization advanced and peeked into the heavens because we acted like sensible and civilized people. This animal like butchery has gone on for far too long, I read about this before and each time these graphic stories want to make you cry. - thejimmyo, on 03/17/2009, -0/+10I have a friend who worked for an international human rights organization to help women being tried for *witchcraft* so that they could get fair trials. Trials for WITCHCRAFT, for crying out loud. How on earth is this possible? Things are not going well over there.
- Afterglow0721, on 03/17/2009, -0/+9The horrific things that these Congolese women have had to endure has also been documented in the film, The Greatest Silence:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?source=ig& ...
"Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, this film breaks the silence surrounding the tens of thousands of women and girls who have been kidnapped, raped and sexually tortured in that country's intractable civil war. The filmmaker, herself a survivor of gang rape, talks with activists, peacekeepers, physicians and with the rapists themselves. She travels to remote villages to meet rape survivors who have been shamed and abandoned, providing a piercing, intimate look into the horror, struggle and ultimate grace of their lives." - artfiend77, on 03/17/2009, -1/+10@poidh
No, you get dugg down cause you're a piece of *****. - LocalDocal, on 03/17/2009, -0/+9Agreed.
When I reached page two and they started speaking about all of those children who were attacked, especially the 11-month-old who cries whenever she sees a man, I literally had to turn away from reading the page to stop from crying.
I actually felt ashamed to be a man after reading that paragraph. Funny because I used to detest men who felt ashamed due to the actions of other men. - shylove, on 03/16/2009, -3/+11It is not surprising and everyone should reevaluated the necessity and usefulness of war.
War itself is a form of rape and pillaging of a country! Why do we glorify this form of global problem solving at all. It is a form of dominance and submission, is it any wonder such things as this happen in such an environment?.
Arms sales encourage the same thing, so why do so many countries profit from arms sales directly or indirectly???
War should not be glorified as a solution, when soldiers march out to war it should be mourned as a failure not a glorious event. Where they go there is an aura of sexual intimidation. There are some evolutionary stimuli to spreading a cultures genes into foreign territory and sometimes a desire to give and sometimes even to receive but the instinctual issues need to be understood and modified to a more humane world. - Aurabolt, on 03/17/2009, -0/+6You know it's bad when the commenter diggs himself down (+0)
- 1longtime, on 03/17/2009, -0/+6This is where the world should focus its strength. It tears the heart and mind apart to even read these stories.
- unclecaveman, on 03/17/2009, -1/+7Have you no tact, Pedobear?
- mdaize, on 03/17/2009, -0/+6WTF is wrong with you...
Read the ***** article and after you're done that, think again about whether its worth trying to put in to a meme just to be dugg...
You make me sick... - KewlBum, on 03/17/2009, -0/+6W..T..F....11 month olds are being raped....11 months!
I'm reading this article and all I can think about is what I would do to the men who are raping all these women and children (and babies). - darwininmotion, on 03/17/2009, -1/+6I hope you're mentally ill, as that's the only excuse for posting pedo bear against this article. You're worse than the scum found around a public toilet s-bend.
- earthforce1, on 03/17/2009, -0/+5Punishment that fits the crime... I wonder how the vermin who did this would like having their bodily orfices probed by a red hot poker?
- charmaniac, on 03/17/2009, -0/+5I know most diggers are males, but this issue is extremely important. What is occurring in the congo is truly tragic.
- jschubart, on 03/17/2009, -1/+5"I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners."
- HOWLAN, on 03/17/2009, -0/+4Dugg for the victims. Atrocious wouldn't even begin to describe these acts. Sickening and repulsive, but there's strength in the women and the volunteers who are getting the word out.
- tt112, on 03/17/2009, -0/+4This is horrible! The violence needs to stop!
- mhelal2, on 03/17/2009, -1/+5I just wonder why USA is not interested in these areas of the world to bring democracy. Oh I forgot (no oil, no Israel, no Muslims). I was wondering if USA would call them terrorists.
- elwell, on 03/18/2009, -0/+4I'm part of a group that has been trying to make this issue known.
You can see a trailer for our documentary at:
http://www.WomenInWarZones.org - xhedgehogx, on 03/17/2009, -0/+3***** rapers
- joeditto, on 03/17/2009, -0/+3@poidh
If you knew how to read, you would've noticed I said MOST rightwingnuts I know.
How could I possibily know if you would fit into that category...seeing I don't know you?
It appears you have a touchy side to your personality....Go back to school and learn how to comprehend what you read. - dikky, on 03/17/2009, -0/+3this is the same part of the world where ablino children are regarded as being possessed by ghosts. They will delimb them while they are alive because they believe they are magical, except the magic is more potent when the child is delimbed alive.
an ablino child can be worth as much as $30k USD - chaos7, on 03/17/2009, -0/+3another brutal story:
http://digg.com/world_news/They_then_cut_off_my_ri ... - inactive, on 03/17/2009, -0/+3We'll start caring when they get some oil.
- dheaddy, on 03/17/2009, -0/+2Unfortunately you're right
- artfiend77, on 03/17/2009, -1/+3I'll remember that when someone causes you physical harm for petty reasons you heartless *****. You're nothing but a ***** troll and bring nothing good to Digg.
- clvngodess, on 03/17/2009, -0/+2These stories are sadly, so sadly, a common practice within the atrocities of war. It's not just practiced in Africa, but also in Central and South America as well. And it's a practice that is taught at places like the School of the Americas (WHINSEC). To destroy and damage the women of a social group, to rape, maim, murder the women and girls is a guarantee of genocide. These acts are committed to guarantee extinction of a society. And it's an atrocity and outrage. It is a sin. To do this to a child or woman is to do this to your own mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother. From whose womb do the bastards birth, is my question.
We will not forget this. I have heard these stories. I have remembered these stories in my art.
As I have said before, there is a Cheyenne saying, "A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground." - jschubart, on 03/17/2009, -0/+2You're really surprised that's possible? It's happened numerous times in history all over the world. Uneducated people tend to blame their woes on silly things.
- marioara, on 03/17/2009, -0/+2I practically felt chills down my spine as I read this. It was a tough reminder of how lucky I am to be able to get out of the house without being afraid. What I cannot understand is how someone could do such things to children who are not even able to walk...calling them animals is way too less for what they are.
- cnldelta, on 03/17/2009, -0/+2Don't blame USA.... Where's the pope and the islamic clerics attempts to fix the issues?
- mhelal2, on 03/17/2009, -0/+2It seems like USA only wage wars for democracy and justice, and also they are the one keep blaming Muslims for all the disasters happen in the world while they close their eyes on awful thing happen in the world.
I'm not blaming USA, I just show the double standard that keeps going on. Have you ever hear anything about this topic on CNN or Fox news, heck no.
Why is USA ignoring this issue while they don't ignore Sudan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine and Iran. I just don't get it.
And where are the Christian friends to explain whey their Christians alike in Kongo killing and raping women left and right, does their bible different than yours? - prem444, on 03/18/2009, -0/+1I checked the site up. Great work! At least some among us take the effort and time to do something about all this. Keep up the great work. I shall do my best to spread this website around.
- inactive, on 03/17/2009, -1/+2The Congo is a real-world nightmare. Warring factions in endless bloody sieges.
I feel sorry for the pygmy people of the Congo. The "small" race, who are set up on by both sides and if captured eaten. - inactive, on 03/19/2009, -0/+1see "v-day" website for more in depth information
- je12u, on 03/17/2009, -1/+2I had to login to read this so here's the article for others
Protip: Firefox w/ Bugmenot
Women in Congo Speak Out About Rape Despite Taboo
Article Tools Sponsored By
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 14, 2009
Filed at 12:01 p.m. ET
DOSHU, Congo (AP) -- Zamuda Sikujuwa shuffles to a bench in the sunshine, pushes apart her thighs with a grimace of pain and pumps her fist up and down in a lewd-looking gesture to show how the militiamen shoved an automatic rifle inside her.
The brutish act tore apart her insides after seven of the men had taken turns raping her. She lost consciousness and wishes now that her life also had ended on that day.
The rebels from the Tutsi tribe had come demanding U.S. dollars. But when her husband could not even produce local currency, they put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. When her two children started crying, the rebels killed them too. Then they attacked Sikujuwa and left her for dead.
The 53-year-old still has difficulty walking after two operations. Yet she wants to tell the world her story, even though repeating it brings back the nightmares.
''It's hard, hard, hard,'' she says. ''I'm alone in this world. My body is partly mended but I don't know if my heart will ever heal. ... I want this violence to stop. I don't want other women to have to suffer what I am suffering.''
Rape has been used as a brutal weapon of war in Congo, where conflicts based on tribal lines have spawned dozens of armed groups amid back-to-back civil wars that drew in several African nations. More than 5 million people have died since 1994. Women have become even more vulnerable since a rebel advance at the end of last year drove a quarter-million people from their homes and fighting this year left another 100,000 others homeless, according to aid workers.
Now some of the women are fighting back the only way they know how -- by talking about what happened.
------
A campaign spearheaded by the U.N. Children's Fund is working with local groups to break traditional taboos around talking about the violence. They're using radio stations broadcasting in local languages, and more activists are getting to remote areas.
''Many more victims are coming forward. We receive a lot of SMS text messages and cell phone calls from women who have been raped and need help,'' says campaign leader Esther Ntoto.
Five months ago, U.N. officials began bringing together women to tell their stories to rooms full of local officials, community leaders, even children. One sign of success is that more men than women have volunteered for training to encourage victims to come forward and their communities to confront the issues.
Video footage of the campaign Women Breaking the Silence shows officials startled by the atrocities recounted. A provincial minister interrupted to ask reporters not to film a woman's face. But she took the microphone to declare: ''I am not ashamed to show my face and publish my identity. The shame lies with those who broke me open and with the authorities who failed to protect me.
''If you don't hear me, see me, you will not understand why it is so important that we fight this together.''
That woman, Honorata Kizende, described how her life as a school teacher and the mother of seven children ended when she was kidnapped in 2001. She was held as a sex slave for 18 months and passed around from one Hutu fighter to another until she escaped. She is now a counselor and trains others to help survivors of sexual violence.
One of the difficulties is the ''huge problem of impunity,'' said Mireille Kahatwa Amani, a lawyer working at an office at HEAL Africa Hospital opened a year ago by the Chicago-based American Bar Association.
''It's difficult to prosecute perpetrators because they can buy off the police or a judge. There's no guarantee of justice,'' she says.
Still, with funding from the U.S. State Department, lawyers have interviewed more than 250 victims and pursued more than 100 cases. In 11 months, they have received 30 judgments with only two acquittals. Those found guilty have been punished with sentences of five to 20 years in jail, Kahatwa says.
Her big success this year was against a man who has been condemned to 20 years in jail for raping a 6-year-old neighbor and infecting her with the AIDS virus. Kahatwa says the judgment came just a month after the complaint was filed, a record.
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Kasongo Manyema takes small, careful steps, fearful of unwrapping the cloth tied like a baby's diaper to catch the blood, urine and feces that has been dribbling from her body for 2 1/2 years.
She was 19 then, when men in military uniform attacked her as she weeded her family's cassava field.
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A U.N. helicopter has brought her to HEAL Africa Hospital in Goma, where reconstructive surgery could help her incontinence and the stench that follows her and thousands of other Congolese women suffering from fistulas.
Fistulas usually result from giving birth in poor conditions. In Congo, they are caused by violent rapes that tear apart the flesh separating the bladder and rectum from the vagina.
Dr. Christophe Kinoma, one of only two surgeons who perform the reconstructive operations in east Congo, says there's a 50-50 chance that surgery can mend Manyema and others like her.
''Yesterday I did five fistula operations and we have more than 100 women waiting here and who knows how many out in the bush who never ever get to a hospital.''
Kinoma says it has become the norm for armed men to use guns, knives and bayonets to rupture their victims' bodies. Sometimes they shoot bullets up women's vaginas. Victims often are rejected by their families, contract HIV, and are left to live in pain and shame.
In December, he operated on an 11-month-old baby raped by a 22-year-old neighbor. During one week in February, it was a 12-year-old girl who had been savagely raped by five soldiers. They stuffed a maize cob inside her.
Also treated last week was a 4-year-old whose mother sent her across the road to get something from a neighbor. She was kidnapped by soldiers and gang-raped.
''An American doctor who was here just burst into tears and collapsed. She couldn't believe what the soldiers had done to this child, just torn her body apart,'' he says.
Kinoma says he may be able to mend the physical damage, ''but the psychological trauma never goes away for some.'' The hospital offers counseling but has no psychologists.
''The 11-month-old I operated on, every time she sees a man, including me, she starts screaming,'' he says.
The 4-year-old was infected with HIV, and they await results from a test on the 12-year-old. ''If three, four, five soldiers rape you, you are almost assured of contracting AIDS,'' Kinoma says.
------
The trauma that haunts these children and women also affects those who help them.
Hortense Tshomba, who has been counseling victims for three years, says she hopes to give them the courage to return to their homes. Many are rejected by husbands and fathers who say the attacks have left them ''unclean.''
''We try to counsel them as couples. For girls rejected by their parents, we try to intervene. Some families accept them back; others don't.''
When counseling does not help, HEAL Africa offers lessons in sewing and handicrafts to teach them to survive financially. She says rejected women who don't get help often are forced from communities and become beggars.
''Sometimes I have nightmares,'' Tshomba says. ''When I leave after hearing all these horror stories, really it's like my brain is on fire. I have to listen to some jazz to ease my soul.''
But there are successes like 13-year-old Harriet, who came to HEAL Africa four years ago. Harriet's parents were killed by the rebels who attacked her and then burned down their home in Rutshuru, north of Goma. She nows lives with a woman who counseled her at the hospital.
On this day, Harriet is so delighted she cannot stop grinning, a wide beam that's infectious in its joy. Her fingernails are black with dirt, but she is wearing lip gloss and eyeliner.
''Today, I got my results and I am top of my class,'' she announces, flaunting a report that shows she averaged 88.5 percent in math, French and English exams.
''When I came to HEAL Africa, I had never been to school. I was 9 years old. Now I'm beating students who have been to school all their lives,'' she says. ''My teacher says I'm very intelligent, that I should go to school in the United States.''
As for the future: ''I think I want to be a doctor, so that I can help people the way these doctors helped me.'' - PterionFracture, on 03/18/2009, -0/+1350 million? There aren't even that many citizens!
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.ht ... - jacksontollock, on 03/17/2009, -0/+1I couldn't read the second page, sick *****, this is more demented than the stuff discussed in many death metal songs and the worst part is that it is true.
- inactive, on 03/17/2009, -0/+1To do what? You realize you can't stop fighting by simply sending aid and troops. There needs to be a desire from the power brokers of the region to stop the fighting.
- JaredXM, on 03/17/2009, -0/+1Registration Required!?
- rollin03, on 03/18/2009, -0/+1In other news, American taxpayers (350 Million) speak out against brutal rape.
- aijazbaig1, on 03/17/2009, -1/+2wheres freedom, democracy and liberation when one really needs it? I'm talkin to you Glorious America!!
- captspaulding, 22 hr 42 min ago, -0/+1Every culture is EXACTLY the same. We can't judge.
/s
If this is a small group of rapists then why are the non rapist men not doing something about it? No countries in africa are interested in trying to stop this BS? I know I sound naive, but really, they can't stop these guys from raping, mutilating, and killing women and young girls?
Am I asking too much? - Chapman9110, on 03/18/2009, -1/+2This makes me ashamed to be human.
- Aurabolt, on 03/17/2009, -1/+1***** travel.
- joeditto, on 03/17/2009, -10/+9@Novenator
It's really simple nov.....these types only care about themselves....most of the rightwingnuts I know...are very selfish. -
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