This is a commentary from CNN.com. It discusses about a young teen named Jeanne and how she is considered to be one of the "lucky ones" who was violently raped when armed rebels attacked her village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She was 15 years old when she fled her home with her uncle, but the rebels caught them and stabbed her uncle as he tried to protect her. Then they dragged her into the forest, tied her to a tree and raped her on and off for a month.
Jeanne is considered to be lucky because she found refuge. She discovered a new family in the General Referral Hospital of Panzi in Bukavu, Congo. Thousands of Congolese women are not so fortunate. Their bodies and souls have been brutalized: systematically raped by marauding rebel soldiers during a 10-year-old war; ostracized by their husbands and villages like modern-day lepers. The violated women's husbands and families often reject them. The rebels know this. By breaking the bonds of family and village, the rebels manage to rip the fabric of these tight-knit communities.
That's what they did to Jeanne.
The Editor explains her experiences when meeting the various women who were raped and while traveling to Congo on the behalf of the Enough Project and UNICEF. These organizations are advocacy groups that seeks to end crimes against humanity. These groups are one of several groups in Congo that are trying to rebuild the lives of the country's women. It funds the Panzi Hospital, which is an oasis of calm and order in a violent country.
The editor states that the women who visit the hospital risk a long and dangerous journey over congested and difficult dirt roads. On the day of her visit, she witnessed a group of them gather in the courtyard and states that their pain is evident. "A few women can barely walk or have to shuffle along with a large stick for support, as if they are very old -- and in a way, they are. All these women have been violently raped. I pass them as they wait to see the doctor. Puddles of liquid have collected under some of the women sitting on the courtyard benches. The smell of their urine hits me. I catch the movement of balled up rags nervously crammed into their laps as they try to stop the flow. I walk by with my eyes drawn downward. As I look up, I meet their eyes. They quickly look away, embarrassed that I have seen. I look away as well. "
The women's inability to control their bowels and urine comes from repeated rapes. The medical term is fistula. The walls of their uterus and bladder have been broken from repeated gang rapes by rebel soldiers, objects shoved roughly inside them and even guns fired into their vagina.
"A man with a gun can do whatever he wants," Cecile Mulolo, the psychologist at Panzi said.
The editor asks Mulolo how old is the youngest and oldest rape victim at Panzi.
"The oldest is in her 80s," she replies, "and the youngest is 16 months."
What are your thoughts on fistula? Do you consider Jeanne to be "lucky?"
What do you think about UNICEF and the Enough Project?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/10/15/congo.commentary/index.html
3 comments:
The last two quotes of this original post are so disturbing. Well actually this entire post is really disturbing. It sounds like something out of a horror movie. I don't see how Jeanne or anyone else this has happen to are lucky. Jeanne went throught something I shiver just thinking about, but just becasue she is alive is not why she is lucky. She is lucky she can start over and hopefully, leading a new life. I am not sure what to say about fistula, but it is wonderful to hear that UNICEF is taking notice and doing something. Someone has to do something at least.
I can agree with the above post stating that this article as a whole was disturbing and frustrating. I was raised to understand that my body is a temple, and whatever affects my temple should happen by choice. It confuses me when trying to comprehend that a child barely able to walk or communicate effectively, has already lost the authority over her body. Jeanne and the rest of the surviors are lucky in the sense that they are able to still physically walk the earth. However, what happens to their mental development from something as tragic as their situation? Hopefully UNICEF is providing psychological aid, as well as physical medical treatment.
I cannot believe the events described in this article. It is absolutely appalling. I've heard accounts of systematic rape before, but not really about the after effects. The physical damage is unbelievable.
I think the saddest part of this story is that these women who have been viciously attacked are shunned and rejected. They are abandoned by the people they need the most. They are victims of a horrible crime and are ostracized as if they have done something wrong. They should be cared for and supported, so they can try to heal emotionally. I think Jeanne is lucky in the sense that she has found a family in the hospital. At least the women in the hospital can understand and support each other, if their families won't.
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