WE ARE GIVEN LOVE TO GIVE IT ~ BE A SUPPORT FOR WOMEN IN THE CONGO

On Tuesday April 8, at 10pm HBO is premiering the Sundance Film Festival’s 2008 award-winning documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo. It will continue to air throughout the month of April.

This powerful, moving film literally breaks through the wall of silence and opens the world's eyes to the tens of thousands of women and small children who have been raped, mutilated and tortured in the name of war.

Emmy award winning producer/director Lisa F. Jackson takes you into the war zones of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and introduces you to some of the most courageous, inspiring women and children you'll ever meet. With the help of Women for Women International’s Country Director, Christine Karumba, she interviewed participants in our program. For decades they have suffered in shame and silence. Now, they are sharing their painful stories with the hope that it will help end these atrocities and they can feel the peace that you and I enjoy every day.

The stories these women tell are not just about the unspeakable tragedies they have endured. Their stories are also about hope, courage and amazing resilience.

It is our privilege (Women for Women) to work with these women. In the last two years, we have expanded our programs to reach remote villages and have now helped over 15,000. The women in our programs receive rights awareness training, job skills training, money for food, clothes and schooling for their children. And Women for Women International provides a support system that helps her move from victim to survivor to active citizen.

I truly hope that you'll join me in learning more about what is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo by watching The Greatest Silence.

These women have been given a voice. Now their voices need to be heard.

I made minor edit changes to the above text that was sent to me by Women for Women.

A true life survivor:

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Esperance, 17, was walking to market with her mother in 2003 when she was abducted by an armed militia unit. She was taken to a military encampment, raped and assembled with 19 other
young women.

At dawn, as if in class, they were instructed in how their lives would change.
Every day, they would be awakened to wash, cook, and clean for their captors.

"We worked hard," she recalls. “It was to your advantage to work. If you were working, you got some rest. If you were not working, you were being raped.

Several months later, pregnant and critically ill, she was sent away to die by the soldiers. Some villagers found her and took her to a hospital where she received proper medical care. Somewhat restored, she gave birth to a son named Daniel.
Like many rape victims, she loves the child she knows is an innocent victim.
Yet his face is a constant reminder of the soldier who enslaved her.

With facial features different from her own background, Daniel, like many children born to raped mothers during this war, is treated as an outcast by many in her community.

Esperance whose name means "hope", lives again with her mother and the child and she has returned to school. "I want to focus my energy on my studies and nothing else," she says. "My aspiration is to become a nurse."

If you'd like you can send a message of hope right now to a woman in the Congo. Simply follow this link. What may seem like only a few words to you could be the very hope and inspiration a Congolese woman needs to carry on.