Echoing the cri de couer for Congolese women

The fact is, no matter how you slice it, eastern Congo is one of the worst places to be a woman today. It is a daily struggle to avoid fleeing one’s home, suffering a rape that ends in HIV infection or permanent physiological damage, losing a child to preventable, treatable disease. Rape is a tool of war and once women have suffered the act itself, they are often turned away by their communities afterward.

This week Extra Extra, who has been tracking the recent upsurge of violence in eastern Congo, writes about the cri de couer of Congolese women.

I left Congo nearly 7 months ago but I still think of her each day, half in hope, half in mourning. Congo has a long road ahead and I walked away from the small piece I had to play in her lifepath. Through my work in Congo, I knew of women who went to the field each morning wearing female condoms to protect themselves against the possibility of their own rape. It is that knowledge that still weighs heavy on my heart.

It’s in that spirit that I ask each one of you not to forget that these women are out there, looking for hope. Read their words at the Declaration of North Kivu Women and an open letter from the women of Rutshuru, read their stories at Women for Women International, understand the issues at Amnesty International, see how one man and his team have helped at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu. Think about donating. But whatever you do, don’t forget these women.

Congo’s plagues revisit

While it’s a beautiful clear Sunday in Lilongwe, things back in Congo aren’t quite as sunny. What was initially reported as an unidentified disease outbreak in my old home province of Kasai Occidental is now confirmed to be Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. Friends in the province report 170 confirmed deaths and about twice as many infections. Realistically speaking from my former life in hemorrhagic fever health communications, Ebola is a self-limiting bug, striking in remote places and killing most of its victims before they have a chance to pass it on to too many others. That being said, it still leaves a morbid wake in its path.

On the political side, Fred reports that Laurent Nkunda in eastern Congo is still standing strong against integrating his private militia into the national army. The rebel leader’s latest move in the Kivus has been to destroy both the power supply and cell towers in the area, a new low even for Congolese trouble-makers. (Though their mobile service is probably still better than the mangy service Celtel provides around these parts).

In better news, UNICEF reports that child mortality in Malawi is on the decline; welcome news for a country that generally ranks somewhere near the bottom of the Human Development Index. The decline is attributed to a variety of child-targeted public health interventions including increased immunisation rates, better nutrition and clean water. It is the most basic changes that can have the most impact in this corner of the globe.