A Living Death

200,000 Congolese women and children have been raped during Congo's conflict.

Although that is not accurate. That is the number of reported rapes and is suspected to be too low.

A specialist on sexual violence in conflict for U.N. Women, Pablo Castillo-Diaz says, "Rape is one of the most underreported war crimes that there are. Women, if they survive the attack rarely tell anyone else. We only hear the most brutal incidences or the public ones that the whole community sees."

We only hear of a small portion of the rapes that occur during wartime because the effect that rape leaves on women is oftentimes too much to bear and too much to relive. This is important because we cannot fall into a state of complacency. We cannot assume that because we know 200,000 women and children have experienced rape, that must be the total amount in that country and they do not need any more help. We cannot let that stop us from seeing if they need more help and if there are more women who just have not come forward.

Anne Murray in From Outrage to Courage says that the goal of modern civil wars is not so much to eliminate the opponents as to destroy their culture and the very fabric of society.

Source: Lauren Wolfe

For most countries, this means targeting the women within that country. Rape is the most common weapon in pursuit of that end goal. Sometimes soldiers rape women with the intention of getting them pregnant, so the woman then has to deal with carrying a baby from the enemy soldier and has to live with knowing how that baby was conceived. Most times the community that the woman lives in knows how that baby was conceived as well, but are more disgusted that she is carrying a child from the enemy. 

The woman may try to have an abortion done which is risky. In poorer countries, they do not have the resources for safe abortions. During war, all resources will be sent to the fighting, so women will resort to unsafe practices for the abortion which may result in her death. Or she can keep the baby and have to live with the memories of the rape and the disgust from the community.

Jeanna Mukuninwa says that rape is more powerful than a bomb or bullet. "At least with a bullet, you die. But if you have been raped, you appear to the community like someone who is cursed. After rape, no one will talk to you; no man will see you. It's a living death."

One aspect of rape is the physical impact. In many ways the physical impact of rape also affects the social and mental. Women can get fistulas from rape which leave them with the inability to control their urine or feces. They often smell, even if they clean up constantly. This may result in them being shunned from their community and may result in isolation. This can be detrimental to their mental health if they have been isolated. This may even make them less likely to report their rape.

So, what we need is a way to combine all the aspects of rape on women in wartime - physical, mental, and social - in order to best help women with the ramifications of rape. One program I found is called City of Joy. City of Joy was founded by Christine Schuler-Deschryver and Eve Ensler, both women's rights activists, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011. This program lasts 6 months and is for rape survivors. It combines group therapy with literacy classes, leadership training, self-defense courses and lessons in human rights law.

Source: IMDB

Eve Ensler says in this Time article, "City of Joy is not a refuge. It is a center for transformation. We are literally saying that the violence which was done to you, through a process of love, healing, therapy and education, can be turned into a motor that makes you a leader."

Jeanna Mukuninwa was in the program and said that the therapy helps women understand that the rape was not their fault. The life skills and leadership training give them confidence, and the nurturing atmosphere lets them build support networks that last even after the program finishes. Mukuninwa says, "What City of Joy taught me is that life goes on after rape. Rape is not the end. It is not a fixed identity."

This program could do lots of good for women if executed properly. As Jeanna Mukuninwa stated this program targets the aspects of women's lives that are affected by rape. It places a heavy emphasis on the mental and social aspects, which I believe are the most important because they tend to last in a woman's life longer than the physical aspects do. It gives them the ability to gain confidence through leadership training and also through the group therapy. It provides an environment where women who have similar experiences can come together and bond and create a support system for one another.

More research needs to be done on City of Joy to see if it has really been helpful for women. I think this program could be very useful for the future of helping women with rape. But we need to see more on what kind of progress has been made with the program and see if women continue with the skills and support they had there after they graduate from the program. We need to see if this program truly helps.

Women who have suffered from rape in wartime need support. They need to know that it was not their fault. They need to know that they can reach out and get support from the people around them. We need to get more education out to the communities who are most likely to be affected by wartime rape. We need to set up programs like City of Joy in areas where women are less likely to get support from the community around them. We just need to help. Wartime rape is a needless and unnecessary form of violence against women. It is not okay that women have to suffer through this. It is not okay.

Sources:
Aryn Baker - http://time.com/war-and-rape/
Murray, A. (2008). From outrage to courage: Women taking action for health and justice. Canada: Common Courage Press.