She is Resilient, yet Her Plight is too Painful to Ignore: Atlanta WALK for CONGO

December 14, 2012
DUNIA Mag
Posted in Our Women

DUNIA MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Photo: JamboNews.net

“Forty-eight women are raped every hour in Congo … 12% of women in this country have been raped at least once,” finds a 2011 study by American Journal of Public Health.

Join us for a Walk in ATLANTA, GA for the women of CONGO, where rape is used as weapon of war, where families are displaced and women and children live in constant fear, where the plight of the woman is too painful to ignore, and the cries of agony have been ignored for far too long; where the humanitarian crisis don’t seem to be a priority to the world anymore. Join us in saying, “Every human being deserves better!”

Date: Saturday MARCH 23, 2013 … walk with us, come along with friends and family members … One Million Women, One voice… One LOVE for the mothers, sisters and children of the CONGO.

We would like to thank Actor Isaiah Washington for drawing attention to the plight of the Congolese women and children (via this article by Katherine Dabo: War in the Heart of Africa: Congo on its knees as Women & Children continue to pay the highest Price) and for continuing to actively engage the public on this crisis. “Who are we to allow African women and children to be ‘raped’ and ‘killed’ daily?” wrote Mr Washington on Twitter last Sunday December 9, 2012. “As long as Africans remain disrespected, impoverished, uneducated and oppressed, so will African Americans.”

At the Congressional Level
On December 11, 2012, the United States Congress Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, chaired by Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) in a session that lasted almost 3 hours addressed The Devastating Crisis in Eastern Congo. With the increasing humanitarian and political meltdown in that area, political leadership has never been more important than it is now for the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was obvious from this meeting that the U.S. congress is looking into putting in place the mechanics for real and lasting peace in the region.

Attending members of congress, among them Representative Karen Bass D-CA (to be featured in the January 2013 edition of DUNIA print magazine) dug deep into the reasons behind the continuing conflict and looked into concrete suggestions and recommendations for a way forward.

On the panel were Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Mr. John Prendergast, Co-founder The Enough Project, Mr. Steve Hege, Former Member United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Mvemba Dizolele, Peter J. Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow Hoover Institution Stanford University.

After the meeting, DUNIA magazine publisher Lema Abeng-Nsah noted on Facebook, “Representative BASS was asking for specifics during today’s congressional hearing on the DRC. “I would like to especially follow-up with you on what we at CONGRESS can specifically do about this…,” she said to the panel towards the end. It was obvious from the ramblings of Ambassador Carson that U.S. policies have failed greatly in that region. I am sure the tables are about to start turning … everyone agreed that they are tired of the status quo. Meanwhile, we are on to planning the Million Woman Walk for our mothers, sisters, and children out in the DR of Congo … thank you especially to my girl Katherine Dabo “for being a champion for your people” … let’s continue to stand together as one under the banner of LOVE.”

Innocent Chia, DUNIA magazine Managing Editor wrote, “I join my Editor-in-chief in thanking Katherine Dabo for stepping up for her people and the plight that women and kids have to endure at the hands of some of the scum of the earth. Our collective voices will only grow louder than the rounds of bullets that these criminals are firing from their guns. So, let us open our mouths in support of each daughter, girl, woman that has been raped and left without a voice to scream out their lungs; let us call our representatives in Congress and let them know we have eyes on those boy soldiers that are led by the blind; let us call US Representative Karen BASS and her colleagues and acknowledge their work and press them forward; let us acknowledge humanitarians like Isaiah Washington and others for caring for such causes.”

Walk for Congo, Atlanta
This movement will be a powerful testament to women’s strength and resilience in the face of awful adversity. We are reminded that much remains to be done to advance the basic human rights of women in the United States and around the world; as President Obama said, he does not accept second place for women in the U.S., so he should not accept second class status for all women across the globe. At a July conference in Rome, a worldwide delegation of 160 drafted a treaty to create an International Criminal Court to prosecute future acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; the treaty designates rape, sexual slavery and enforced pregnancy as war crimes.

Women around the globe are living under oppressive conditions that most of us can only imagine in our worst nightmares. It is the duty of every human being, especially all women, women’s rights groups and human rights organizations to call the public’s attention to these atrocities and to pressure the United Nations to stand up to those who abuse women’s rights and bodies. Let’s work together to initiate change and engage on issues related to women’s suffering.

The disregard for what is said to be an epidemic of violence against women is multi-fold; on one hand, the countries in which the violence is occurring are not doing enough to prevent, control or remedy the problem. On the other hand, international awareness and media coverage is remarkably low.

Although there is no way of talking about any one of these situations without overlooking another, a focus on the women of Congo will make women’s empowerment an international priority. Reports state that nearly 7 million people have been killed since the beginning of the war in Congo. The female population has endured exorbitant rape, torture, sexual slavery and abuse in addition to the violence and displacement forced upon them as a whole.

Rape, abduction and other forms of unforgivable violence are being extensively and systematically used against women in places of conflict. So in every nation that is at war per say, the women and young children are suffering daily. It is of the utmost urgency that we as women stand against the violence of woman that is so very rampant around the world. The scars suffered by battered women in these countries go way beyond their bruises. These abuses expose a global pattern of historical oppression that has bled into pervasive modern violence and overall negligence. For that reason women are still dying because their lives are not valued and their voices are not being listened to. Today I say let us V.O.W to end the ABUSE of women and children and have a day of UNITY for the welfare of our sisters.

Thank you. Katherine Dabo

PHOTOS

Congolese women flee fighting between Congolese soldiers and rebels around the eastern town of Sake, near Goma, on Thursday. (Jerome Delay / Associated Press / November 22, 2012)

Esperance Zawadi, 18, lies by her 11-month-old son Steve Kwizera in a tent set outside the Kibati hospital in Kibati, north of Goma, eastern Congo, Monday Aug. 6, 2012. Steve is under observation for symptoms of cholera. Doctors Without Borders’ Christian Masudi said the lack of hygiene and the overpopulation of the area created by the influx of internally displaced people were key factors in the potential explosion of diseases such as cholera. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)