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.

A girl’s best friend?

I was having a few beers and roasted goat with some workmates at a Kinshasa terrace last night, when for the first time since I came to Africa, a hawker wandered over to us to display his pricey wares: raw diamonds. Friends from my Namibia days will remember my indignation at having never been offered diamonds (am I that scruffy-looking?!), but in truth, I am not one for glittering rocks.

Amnesty International offers these words on the diamond trade:
To many people, diamonds symbolize love, happiness or wealth. However, for many others, they mean conflict, misery and poverty. In some African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, profits from the unregulated diamond trade are used to fund armed conflicts. As a result, tens of thousands of civilians have over the past years been killed or tortured and millions have been displaced.

The Kimberly Process of diamond certification was established in 2003 with the intent of preventing the flow of conflict diamonds or blood diamonds that fund into the world diamond market. I’m no expert, but my understanding is that countries which have signed on can certify that the diamonds have been obtained legally and then export them to the international diamond market. Unfortuantely the process is fairly flawed, especially as many of Congo’s neighbours with no mines of their own want to export.

Even beyond illegally-mined diamonds that fuel conflicts are the daily risks taken to exploit legal diamonds. One of my colleagues who comes from the Province Orientale, where the 134 carat diamond* was recently found, explained how the rivers are mined: Divers go down in the rapids to fill bags of sand, which are then pulled up to the surface and sifted though. The divers often die, either because their air hose is not attached correctly or because they get swept farther down the rapids and trapped between rocks.

Many workers have also died recently with the collaspse of several underground mines. In the province of Kasai Oriental, once mine tunnels have been abandoned by mining companies, illegal diggers enter the tunnels, looking for diamonds that may have been missed. It is many of these people, in addition to formal miners, who are killed in such accidents.

When we turned around a few minutes later, our diamond hawking friend was standing next to a large SUV. A Congolese man inside was examining the stones with a jeweler’s eye piece, as we watched from the terrace. I remind myself that Congo is one of the countries signed onto the Kimberly Process and I wonder who exactly it is to decide which pieces of rock get a certificate and where the rest of the stones find themselves.

For this girl, I think I’m going to pass on Elizabeth Taylor’s best friend and go in search of a more amicable relationship.

*Apparently the infamous 134 carat diamond was sold not for $1.4 million as reported but $1.8 million, $400,000 being knocked off the official price to reduce the government’s share of the pie.