Imagine the horror of this woman's life.  Her parents had been killed in the war.  She was home with her younger brother and two children.  She is gang raped while the rapists forced her brother to hold a flashlight and watch them rape her.  When her brother refused to rape her too, they stabbed him to death.  But the tragedy did not stop on that night.  No, she was then dragged to the soldiers camp where she was raped daily for eight months.  During this time, she does not know if her children are alive or dead.  She escapes and is happy to find her children are still alive but she is now pregnant with one of the rapist's child.  Her husband abandons her. 

This might be an extreme example but rape in the Congo is all too common.  In some villages as many as 90% of the women have been raped.  Girls as young as three are raped.  Women as old as 75.   I scoffed at the idea that these rapes could be more brutal than an "average" rape.  Isn't rape by definition brutal?  But then I read about how these are almost always gang rapes.  They not only rape them but ravage them with broken bottles, bayonets.  There are even women who are then shot between their legs.  They rapes are so violent that many of the women can no longer control their bodily functions which adds to their shame. 

If the physical assault wasn't enough, the rapists will actually have those in the victims family and community watch the rape.  Then the victims are blamed for the rape.  The victims are shunned because they might be HIV carriers.  I can't imagine how these women survive and find hope to cotinue living and caring for their children in such a place.  I can't understand how any human being can be so hateful and hurtful to another person.  I can't imagine what it would be like for this to be normal.  To know that you have been assaulted and injured and the calvary is not on its way.  No one is going to be investigated.  No one is going to be arrested.  No one is going to go to jail. 

Please help the women of Congo. 

http://www.womenforwomen.org/global-initiatives-helping-women/help-women-congo.php

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/