“Breaking News” September 17, 2009

I often read the “breaking news” about the situation in the Congo and think, “there’s nothing breaking about that.” Most of the news stories concerning the Congo simply reiterate facts that have already been published in other articles. It’s “breaking news” to some people because they have no idea about what’s going on there. But for someone who’s very concerned and involved with this issue, it’s frustrating. When will breaking news actually contain evidence of progress? I don’t need to know that 5 million people have died– I already know that.

I was cheered today, however, by an article in the Washington Post. (Read it here.)
The title is “Congo: An African Country That’s Broken,” and at first the article reads the same as all the others: due to a disastrous civil war, unrest in surrounding countries, and an unstable central government and military, the Congo is experiencing a horrendous human rights crisis. Gang rapes, theft, kidnapping, and torture is a daily reality.

By the last page of the article, however, the Washington Post provides some hopeful news:

this year, there has been some relatively good news.

Most of the Rwanda-backed National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) militia that swept murderously through North Kivu in January have either slipped into civilian life or voluntarily remobilized into the Congolese army.

In the spring, President Joseph Kabila forged secret agreements to hold joint operations with Rwanda and Uganda, slightly improving the cooperation of all three armies and governments.

Several solutions have been suggested, but “Jeffrey Herbst and Greg Mills, writing earlier this year in Foreign Policy magazine, make a passionate case for international aid groups to emphasize regional problem-solving and security, rather than funding elections to choose central governments with no national credibility.”

This is exactly the kind of work that Women for Women International does, and I’m proud to be a supporter.

Thanks to many generous friends and family, I have surpassed my Run for Congo Women goal of raising $300, and currently have $345! That’s only $9 away from the amount needed for a full sponsorship. Thank you to all who have donated!

And, right now, every donation made to Women for Women International is matched 1:1 by an anonymous generous supporter. Donate to the Fall Matching Campaign until October 31!

Less than one month until the Chicago Run for Congo Women… September 8, 2009

Just a reminder… I’m walking in the Chicago Run for Congo Women, which takes place on the morning of October 3rd in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. (Here’s the original post!)

That means there’s only 26 days left for me to reach my fundraising goal of $300! Women for Women International suggests sponsoring one woman for each mile that you run, and other goals like that. I can’t really do that much–unfortunately most of the people I know are where I am: still in college with a small (0r no) paycheck! So I can’t count on lots of big donations. A one year sponsorship costs $354, though; that’s close enough to what I’ve raised for previous Relay for Life races (through the American Cancer Society), so I thought that would be a good goal. I chose a nice round number for my goal–$300–and I will gladly donate the remaining $54 necessary if we can raise $300!

Thanks to some very generous friends and family, I currently have collected $235! Only $65 to go! I’d like to thank them all personally here:

Drs. Sally Parry and Robert McLaughlin

Sharon Woodhouse, a wonderful publisher, owner of Lake Claremont Press; I had an internship there this summer and it was great! LCP is a great company which publishes all Chicago books; Sharon also wrote a really nice note about me on their blog– read it here! Thanks Sharon!

Holly Hughey–my roommate’s wonderful mom, who gave a particularly generous donation!

Maureen Fleming–my boyfriend’s wonderful mom, who is continually generous and lovely to me.

Michelle Stein–my wonderful aunt

Thank you to all of you, so much! I will strive to share any letters I receive from the woman you all helped to sponsor, if possible. I’d love for you to see the end result of your generosity, and I will let her know who helped her, unless you want to remain anonymous!

And a special thank you to one of my best friends, Stephanie Donnan… she has agreed to walk with me on October 3 and is all registered and ready to fundraise! And to my mom, who is also walking with us! We have the makings of our own team!

If anyone reading this blog feels moved by the plight of women and children in the Congo, please let me know if you can donate anything. Any amount helps. You can donate by check or by Paypal, at diddle7987@comcast.net. Contact me if you have any questions, and keep an eye out for updates!

P.S. Also keep an eye out for pictures once the event is over! If anyone wants more information about Chicago’s or any other city’s run, go to Run for Congo Women.

Featured Artist: Jamie of EchoEndeavor September 3, 2009

A beautiful and unique Catholic rosary with pink ribbon details at EchoEndeavor.

When I started looking for donations for the baskets which will be featured in my online auction (pushed back, unfortunately…but coming soon!), Jamie from EchoEndeavor jumped right on board. I was delighted to learn that all of the proceeds from her Etsy shop, EchoEndeavor, are donated to “echo:” Endeavor to Contribute to the Health of Others. ECHO helps cover the costs associated with breast cancer care. I asked Jamie about how she got involved in the business and art of jewelry, and how her involvement with echo started.

How did you get started with making jewelry? Where and how did you learn?
My first “attempt” at making a piece of jewelry was the result of not being able to find a necklace I was looking for to give as a gift for my mother. The rare occasion that I knew what I was looking for I was unable to find anything of the sorts. So, off on the adventure of making the piece I had in mind. I was very pleased with the results so I ventured into making another piece and so on. I had begun accumulating pieces (and although I truly don’t believe someone can have too many pieces of jewelry) I thought it would be more beneficial if the pieces were actually getting put to good use. So, I contacted the breast care center and asked if they would be interested in a fund raiser if I were to donate my pieces to them. Several years later…over $7,000 has been donated!

Pretty in purple--delightful dahlias at EchoEndeavor.

What inspired you to start the EchoEndeavor shop, especially to donate your proceeds to Echo?
Originally, the proceeds from my shop were donated to a fund at the breast care center called “CASSIE Fund: Cancer Alternative Screening Support Indemnity Endowment”. The individual who had originally established the fund was not supportive of other individual’s making contributions to “her” fund so I set up echo: Endeavor to Contribute to the Health of Others. Not only is echo supportive of any donations made to the cause, the guidelines for this fund allow more patients to be reached more quickly. The breast care center seemed like a logical choice at the time. I was working on my doctorate degree in biomedical research at the same cancer center and jewelry just seems feminine.

Would you like readers to know anything else about Echo, or your philosophy about charity work?
I think volunteer work is incredibly important. You never know what kind of an impact you can have in the lives of others- even the smallest amount helps. My mom always said that it may not seem like you are doing a lot but just imagine

Deep sapphire blue with beautiful accents. This is my favorite item at EchoEndeavor!

what can be accomplished if everyone does a little. So, I guess this is “my little”. My mom once sent me a quote with a note attached that it made her think of me. It is one of my favorites:

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” -John Wooden

I have a web site set up for echo, too:
http://www.orgsites.com/wv/echo/

Any interesting information about you personally?
I have an African Grey parrot named “Mr.” Chloe who hiccups and laughs like me. I have been to the rainforest and have hiked an active volcano. I once cut off over a foot of my hair for Locks of Love. My husband, who thought I literally shaved my head when I told him I cut it all off, refused to look at me for over a day for fear that my head would be bald (silly boy!). I am mommy to a ten month old little boy- Logan Maximus and work part time as Director of Life Sciences for a local non-profit research firm, Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research and Innovation Center.

Thanks to Jamie for all of her great work in aiding those who are enduring breast cancer treatments, and for her support of my online auction! Don’t forget to check out her echo website and her Etsy shop, EchoEndeavor!

A brass tulip suspends freshwater pearls. So pretty-one of my favorites!

Substantial yet delicately detailed. I really like these!

Father Justin Nkunzi’s take on Hillary Clinton’s Congo visit August 16, 2009

Father Justin Nkunzi, Director of the Justice and Peace Commission for Bukavu, had a letter published on Saturday in the UK newspaper The Guardian, responding to Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Congo. (Read it here.)

Nkunzi acknowledges that humanitarian aid (like donations to the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu and Women for Women International) is still desperately needed, but that the real solution to the crisis in the Congo is the total demilitarization of armed militias roaming the country. Nkunzi says, “‘…the reality is that the use of rape as a weapon of war will continue as long as well-armed militias remain active, often competing with each other for access to valuable mines, enabling them to continue their illegal activities of personal enrichment and sexual brutality with impunity.’”

This is obviously true–in the article below by Eve Ensler, Dr. Mukwege tells stories about women returning to the Panzi Hospital after their first treatment as a result of second attacks. No matter how successful we are in caring for women and children in the Congo through donations and support, we will always be fighting a losing battle as long as armed militias are allowed to continue their raping and killing without punishment.

Part of the Secretary of State’s visit to the Congo included a conversation with the Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, where she told him that such militias should not be allowed to continue their abuses without repercussions. You can learn more about her visit in another Guardian article, “Hillary Clinton demands arrests over Congo sexual violence.” The article says that “Clinton has been urged by human rights groups to press the government to arrest and prosecute offenders.”

This problem–the problem of disarming those errant militias and punishing sexual offenders, thereby hopefully greatly reducing or removing the constant threat of heinous sexual violence towards women and children–seems so much more difficult for people like you and me to attack. It’s easy to donate money, even if you don’t have that much. I certainly don’t, which is why I’m holding fundraisers like my virtual bakesale and online auction. You can find ways to earn money to donate get people concerned and interested in the problem. But demilitarizing militias and changing the way that a government rules its people is not something I have much influence on.

But someone else does–the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Whether or not the Congolese government eventually changes its policies, Hillary Clinton has infinitely more influence and power to affect this kind of change than you or I do–but the good part is, her power comes from us (or should, in a democracy)! As the Guardian‘s article said, “Clinton has been urged by human rights groups to press the government…” And she has recently been doing just that! This gives me hope that she is listening to our concerns. I think the best thing we can do for this problem is to keep it fresh in her mind–keep reminding her that she needs to continue encouraging the Congolese government to care about its people, and to change its policies so that the rapes and abuse will end.

Writing letters often seems to be a thing of the past, but is often an incredibly useful tool when letting the government know how we want to be governed, or how we want an issue like the crisis in the Congo to be handled. Write Secretary Clinton at the State Department:

U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC  20520

And urge her to continue the work she’s already started in the Congo. For a transcript of the Roundtable With NGOs and Activists on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Issues which took place in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, visit the U.S. Department of State’s website and read it.

“It is not too strong to call this a femicide…” August 14, 2009

Eve Ensler’s Visit to the Congo: “It is not too strong to call this a femicide…”

If you’re involved in any way with feminist movements, you probably know who Eve Ensler is: playwright, activist, and founder of V-Day. Recently, Ensler visited the Congo and saw firsthand the violence and atrocities described in this blog. When she returned, she wrote one of the most compelling articles I have read on the subject; your heart aches for these women hearing their stories from their own mouths. The soul-destroying violence described in Ensler’s article makes me feel sick–but the hope she describes at meeting Dr. Denis Mukwege and witnessing his selfless work at Panzi Hospital is beautiful. Ensler’s article is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the crisis in the Congo–”femicide,” as Ensler calls it–violence against women, and what to do about it. Read it here, at Practical Populism. (Article first posted in Glamour Magazine in 2007.)

How You Can Help

So, you ask, what can you do about it?

• Check out VDay.org.

Eve Ensler’s most famous legacy, V-Day is the “global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works.” VDay.org’s 2009 Spotlight Campaign is focusing on the crisis in the Congo, “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource,” and has several goals, including raising awareness, providing support to DRC activists, and raising funds to build the City of Joy in Bukavu. The City of Joy will provide a safe place for women healing after treatment at Panzi Hospital, and will also provide them with leadership development and income-generating opportunities. You can donate directly to Panzi Hospital through VDay.org.

• Check out Women for Women International’s Sponsorship Program.

  Women for Women International offers a year-long sponsorship program for women survivors of war in the Congo. For $27 a month plus a one-time $30 administrative fee, you can be a Sister to a woman in the Congo–perhaps homeless, perhaps a widow, perhaps raped, perhaps the rescuer of forgotten orphans, perhaps suffering from HIV/AIDS–and provide her with a monthly fee, leadership training, rights education, business training, and capital to start her own business. You can let one woman know that someone halfway around the world cares about her and wants her to live–something most women in the Congo don’t get from their own countrymen.

• Keep your eye on this blog for announcements about my online auction coming up at the end of August.

  Sellers from my online selling community, Etsy.com, have donated several handmade items–including jewelry, hand-painted wine glasses, and stationary–which will make up at least two baskets to be auctioned off at the end of August. 100% of the profits will support my Sister through Women for Women International. More details will follow in following posts!

• Do your own research.

  The violence in the Congo is largely unknown in the U.S. Find out all that you can about the crisis, and find your own ways to help! Get your friends and family involved–the more outside influence felt by Congolese authorities, U.N. peacekeepers, and the international community, and the more  outside support felt by Congolese women, the more hope there will be.

AllAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: No Excuses for Gender-Based Violence, Clinton Tells DRC August 12, 2009

Speaking in an interview with Radio Okapi in Kinshasa August 10, Clinton said the DRC’s human rights record is “in desperate need of improvement.”

The government emerged out of years of destabilizing war, and the secretary acknowledged that often human rights “are considered a luxury during a wartime.” But, she added, “there are no excuses any longer, and there has to be more expected from the government here” in terms of a commitment to promoting human rights and punishing violators, including human rights crimes against women.

…

Clinton said the DRC’s corruption and human rights situation is “very serious,” and “the impunity of people who commit either financial corruption or abuses of human rights means that the investors around the world don’t come unless they think that they can get their investment secure.”

She and President Obama are committed to making Africa’s development and democratization a foreign policy priority of the United States, and “we think that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has tremendous potential and promise,” the secretary said.

Read the rest of the story here.

Stitching, baking and running… August 10, 2009

More than 5.4 million people have died since 1998 in the conflict in the Congo. Half of these deaths are children under the age of five. For women in the Congo, brutal gang rape and torture are a daily reality. Family members are forced to watch mutilations and rape, and women are abducted and used as sex slaves in military and guerrilla camps.

Sustainable income-generating opportunities will allow women in war-torn countries like the Congo to lift themselves out of crisis and poverty and participate in long-term reconstruction. Providing short-term financial aid and job skills training to women will result in long-term economic sustainability because women have been shown to invest in education & children. Further, giving women economic power leads to social power and to lasting impact on their communities and their nations.

Women for Women International provides just these kinds of opportunities through their sponsorship program, a year-long program in which enrolled women receive a monthly stipend, therapy, skills training, rights education, and the chance to start their own business. WfW offers this program in countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, including the Congo. This blog traces my efforts to raise awareness about the sickening violence taking place in the Congo today and to raise funds to sponsor “sisters” in the Congo and elsewhere. Welcome!

If you are ever interested in donating to my cause, contact me to donate through my Paypal.