Archive for February 28th, 2011

• Day 365: Tell the Women of Congo You Love Them!

  Date: 2011.02.28 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 1

  

  As my Year Without Candy comes to a close today, I’d like to use my last post to help the women who live in what Nicholas Kristof called the “rape capital of the world,” the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC.)

  They’re women who have bigger problems than a sweet tooth. They’ve had to survive a lot worse than a year without candy.

  Please consider pressing the DONATE button on the upper right hand corner of this blog and give whatever you can. The link accepts PayPal and other major credit cards and takes no more than two minutes to donate.

  I pledge to give any monies donated to this blog to Eve Ensler’s wonderful new project in Bukavu, Congo called the City of Joy, that is for women survivors of rape.

  Even better, you can go directly to this link that is to the donation form to contribute to the City of Joy.

  Click here to read the recent New York Times article about the City of Joy:

  “You build an army of women,” Eve Ensler told the Times. “And when you have enough women in power, they take over the government and they make different decisions. You’ll see. They’ll say ‘Uh-uh, we’re not taking this any longer,’ and they’ll put an end to this rape problem fast.”

  The Congo rape problem is hellacious.  Educate yourself by watching the video below and then become part of the solution by donating to the City of Joy.

  It will say the video embedding is disabled.  Just click on where it says to watch on YouTube and it will take you to the video instantly:

  WHY CONGO?

  Congo is the most dangerous place on the planet to be a women or a girl.

  Since 1996, sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been used to torture and humiliate women and girls and destroy families. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped since the conflict began. In addition to the severe psychological impact, sexual violence leaves many survivors with genital lesions, traumatic fistulae, severed and broken limbs, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Survivors are regularly ostracized and abandoned by their families and communities.

  In 2007, V-Day and UNICEF launched the global campaign STOP RAPING OUR GREATEST RESOURCE: Power To The Women And Girls Of The Democratic Republic of Congo that is:

  RAISING AWARENESS about the level of sexual violence in the DRC, the root economic causes of the war and the historical context.

  ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE on local, provincial, national, and international levels.

  PROVIDING SUPPORT to activists in the DRC and around the globe who are working to end the atrocities and change perceptions about sexual violence.

  CREATING City of Joy, a transformational community for Congolese women survivors of sexual violence, conceived, created and developed by the women on the ground. City of Joy will support women survivors of sexual violence to heal and provide them with opportunities to develop their leadership through innovative programming.

  By joining this campaign, you will be supporting Congolese women and men who are demanding an end to rape. You will be supporting local efforts to demand justice and accountability. You will be supporting survivors of sexual violence to heal and rebuild their lives and communities. And you will join others around the globe to demand that women and girls in DRC are safe.

  AND HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY MEN IN THE CONGO RAPE?

  WATCH THIS: