Tag Archive: mboko
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Weekend Update, Sud Kivu Edition
Leave a CommentMore news from Uvira/Fizi:
On 10/24, Mai Mai rebels attacked a FARDC position in the village of Kabumbe, next to the village of Mukwesi. In the attack, 4 civilians were killed and 3 injured, and the FARDC suffered 2 dead and 2 injured. Kabumbe/Mukwesi is about 2 hours south of Uvira, close to the town of Mboko. The attackers allegedly belonged to Mai Mai Pascal, an armed group loyal to Pascal Bwasakala, a former protégé of Yakutumba. The day after the Mai Mai attack, FARDC troops arrived to reinforce the position. However, the attack prompted massive IDP movements away from Kabumbe/Mukwesi, leaving the villages virtually empty of inhabitants. OCHA is cautioning all humanitarian workers passing through the Swima-Mboko area to only travel in vehicle convoys. Furthermore, OCHA warns that if the situation persists or deteriorates, agencies will be forced to travel with a PAKBATT escort.
There are continuing inter-ethnic tensions in Tulambo and Maranda, two villages in the Massif d’Itombwe, a large forest in the Haut Plateau of Fizi. Just since 10/21, clashes between the Bembe and Banyamulenge communities have left 4 wounded and 3 dead. This next week, MONUSCO and several local NGOs are poised to launch a Joint Assessment Mission to the area.
On 10/21, the population of Kahanda, a village in Uvira Territory close to the town of Lemera, fled due to the arrival of Mai Mai Bede, a small band of armed men loyal to ex-FARDC commander Col. Bede Safari. Col. Bede defected from the FARDC in 2010, and his troops only number in the dozens. However, his arrival still precipitated a panicked IDP movement of around 64 households. FARDC troops stationed nearby went to Kahanda to hunt down the Mai Mai Bede, but the rebels were warned in advance and fled before the FARDC arrived.
In addition, there are further reports of violence and insecurity occurring just this week: 2 nurses killed in Buhonde by unidentified armed men, 3 civilians kidnapped in Kalungwe, and a traditional chief shot in the night in Kitundu. This is all just human-on-human violence; this past week rainy season floods have also destroyed part of the town of Sange, on the Rusizi Plain in Uvira Territory. The damage includes the destruction of 500 houses, 3 schools, 1 bridge, and several fields. The casualty toll from the flooding currently sits 5 dead and 2 severely injured.
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Binwa: “I live as I did before”
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Binwa
Binwa is 40 years old and has 5 children. In 2010-2011, she spent three months the SOS FED center in Mboko. Binwa lives in Quartier II, a neighborhood in Mboko. She is a survivor of sexual violence. I interviewed Binwa at her home in Mboko, on a beautiful September evening. Unfortunately, her husband could not be present, as he was at the hospital looking after a sick child.
Binwa had been raped by armed men while alone in her fields. When her husband’s family found out about the incident, they counseled Binwa’s husband to leave her, as she had “become the wife of another man in the forest”. Binwa’s husband heeded his family’s advice, and forced her to leave their home. Binwa attempted to explain to her husband that she had been raped and therefore the incident was not her fault, but to no avail. Binwa resided for several months at the home of a neighbor, and then went to the SOS FED center in Mboko to receive psychosocial and socioeconomic assistance.
Wilondja Lubunga, the SOS FED Mboko reintegration officer, met with Binwa’s husband three times while she was at the center; two of these times, Wilondja was accompanied by the mwami (traditional chief) of Mboko Quartier II. Wilondja and the mwami counseled the husband to reunite with his wife, explaining that the woman was not at fault for her rape and that her value as a wife, mother, and human being was not diminished by her violation. At first, said Wilondja, he heard some very “bizarre” commentary during the sessions with the husband, but he said that after 3 sessions he was able to break through and convince the husband that he needed to re-accept his wife and not blame her for the rape.
At the date on which Binwa was to be reintegrated, her husband arrived at the SOS FED center in Mboko to be reunited with her and to bring her home. The mwami was also present at the reunification.
While Binwa is happily reunited with her husband and children, she does not speak anymore with her husband’s family. Binwa also said that she is not harassed or impugned by other members of her community anymore, thanks to interventions from the mwami.
Binwa continues with communal cultivation with two of her neighbors, neither of which are former SOS FED beneficiaries. Binwa said that she has informed many of her neighbors and friends about the risk-reduction methods she learned at the SOS FED center. She still remains in contact with several of her fellow SOS FED beneficiaries.
With the income she earned from participating in group cultivation at the SOS FED center, Binwa paid for school fees for her children and for food for the household. According to Binwa, she is “very happy” to be reunited with her husband.
“I am able to live as I did before,” said Binwa.
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Introduction to Reintegration
1 CommentFor survivors, the experience of sexual violence causes painful and often chronic physical problems, including (but not limited to) STDs, fistulas, irregular bleeding, and chronic abdominal pain. However, perhaps an even more distressing outcome of rape in the Congo is the social stigmatization that survivors of sexual violence endure at the hands of their families and communities. Attitudes towards survivors of sexual violence are quite indicative of the second-class status of women in Congolese society, particularly in underdeveloped, rural areas such as Fizi Territory.
After having suffered from an act of sexual violence, oftentimes a survivor will be banished from her family and derided by her community. The husband of a survivor may expel her from the home, leaving her without support, kinship, or protection. A survivor will be labeled (quite erroneously) as the “wife of the soldiers” or a “prostitute”, and openly mocked or shunned. Thus, the post-rape social ramifications in Fizi Territory are devastating for survivors, especially in a society that places a premium on social interaction. The shame and rejection may prevent a survivor from participating in income-generating activities (agriculture, commerce), and oftentimes will prevent her from seeking assistance.
SOS FED staff work very hard at encouraging survivors to come to SOS FED for assistance, and work with civil, traditional, and religious authorities to find survivors in the area who need assistance. Once a survivor has entered a SOS FED center, she can receive group therapy and individual counseling sessions, as well as participate in group income-generating activities that also teach risk-reduction behavior.
However, what happens to a woman once she has completed the 3-month course of assistance provided by SOS FED? Will she be re-accepted by her family and/or community? The reintegration process, implemented in 2011, addresses this question. Each SOS FED center has a male reintegration officer, who acts as an advocate for reintegrating beneficiaries. Thus far, SOS FED has 3 reintegration officers: Luandja Eca Ricardo (Kikonde), M’Munga Selemane (Kazimia), and Lubunga Wilondja (Mboko).
The reintegration officer is tasked with breaking down the misconceptions about survivors of sexual violence within Congolese society, at least to the point where a survivor is able to rejoin her family and resume her life. The reintegration meets with the family, in particular the husband, of the soon-to-be reintegrated beneficiary. The reintegration officer educates the family on the rights of survivors of sexual violence, breaks down the myth that the survivor is to blame for the rape, and tries to convince them to re-accept the survivor back into the family.
The reintegration officer works very closely with the mwami to achieve these goals. The mwami is a traditional position of authority, also known as the chef coutumiere. The mwami/chef coutumiere is a hereditary position, passed down from father to son. A mwami may have a constituency ranging from a village, a quartier, or an entire town. While having no civil or state authority, traditional authorities are still regarded as important figures in Congolese society. Ordinary citizens often consult a mwami for counsel on important decisions, the resolution of disputes, or just for simple advice. State authorities often have to work with the cooperation of the mwami in order to carry out state business.
As a person of authority who is respected by the community, the counsel of a mwami can go a long way in assisting with the integration process. Before beginning reintegration efforts in a village/town, SOS FED reintegration officers have several meetings with the local mwami to educate them on the principles of reintegration and to gain their support and trust for the reintegration process. Including the mwami in the reintegration process also helps educate the community at large about the rights of survivors of sexual violence.
SOS FED reintegration officers accompany reintegrating women, often over great distances, to their home villages. Reintegrating beneficiaries are encouraged to continue the risk-reduction activities they learned at the SOS FED center, as well as disseminate this information among their friends and neighbors.
The success of the reintegration process is quite evident. According to all three reintegration officers, there has only been one case where a woman was abandoned by her husband after reintegration was carried out. As of the end of the month of September, 21 beneficiaries have been reintegrated from Kikonde/Kazimia, and 19 beneficiaries have been reintegrated from Mboko.
My next few blog entries will be profiles of several people from in/near Mboko who are involved in the reintegration process: 2 former SOS FED beneficiaries and 2 mwami working closely with SOS FED.
SOS FED beneficiary in Mboko
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Mboko, August 2011
Leave a CommentThe conflict, and its effects on civilians, is not quite abating in Fizi Territory.
The village of Mboko is situated about halfway down on the road between Uvira and Baraka. Mboko is sandwiched between Lake Tangayika, immediately to the east, and the mountains of the Moyen Plateau, which rise up to the west. The area of the Moyen/Haut Plateau to the west of Mboko is infested with armed groups, most notably Mai Mai militias, the FDLR, and Burundian FNL rebels.
SOS FED has one center in Mboko, providing services to survivors of sexual violence. The Mboko center has seen some rough days, especially when the surrounding area was a battleground between the Congolese military and various non-state armed groups in the mid-late 2000s. The Mboko center staff had noted that starting in end of 2010, the situation around Mboko was relatively calm due to FARDC actions that pushed the zone-of-combat away from the main road. However, that is now starting to change.
On August 3rd, armed men stopped and robbed 2 vehicles in the village of Ilila, about 15 minutes north of Mboko. In the incident, 7 women were raped; these women went to the MSF hospital in Baraka. There is no official confirmation as to the affiliation of the armed perpetrators, but the word around the area is that these men belong to a Mai Mai militia based in the Moyen Plateau just above the area.
On August 15, armed men (again, presumed Mai Mai) attacked civilians working in their fields near the village of Senza, just south of Mboko. About 13 women reported being raped in the attacks. SOS FED Mboko center manager Mariamu Bashishibe tells me she and her staff are making all effort to reach the survivors and provide them with assistance. In addition, several NGOs in the area, along with local authorities, are working together to help those who have fallen victim to these attacks.
In the month of August, the SOS FED center in Mboko has received two women from a village near Ilila that were attacked and raped in their homes by presumed Mai Mai assailants.
There are many more reports of attacks in the area, with rumors of alarmingly high numbers of rapes, but I am waiting for confirmation from several sources before I report on these other incidents. Please stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.
In general, it appears as though attacks on civilians on the Uvira-Baraka road are starting to pick up, particularly close to Mboko. According to people I spoke with in Mboko, the Mai Mai have successfully infiltrated the villages and seem to raid at will. What is the possible reason for this escalation in rape, pillage, and violence? The Mboko center staff connects the escalation to the general reduction of FARDC troops in the area since the braçage process started earlier this year for units based in Mboko. Earlier this year, the Mboko-area FARDC units went into braçage for training/re-equipment/re-organization. However, their units have returned back to Mboko in fewer numbers than before. While the reduction of total troop numbers in the Kivus is a positive change, especially considering the massive amount of human rights violations committed by the FARDC, the continued presence of armed groups such as the Mai Mai, FDLR, and FNL means that civilians will continue to suffer as non-state armed elements simply move into areas left empty by the FARDC.
The confused FARDC presence, paired with an almost total lack of effective MONUSCO troop presence in Fizi Territory, is making things rather easy for armed groups that wish to prey upon the civilian population. While the rest of Congo is supposed to be moving forward in terms of peace, security, and stability, Fizi Territory remains stuck.
Child with fish in Fizi Territory
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“A New Phase of Brutality”
Leave a CommentThere is evidence of a growing humanitarian crisis in Fizi Territory. I have been attending regular OCHA security briefings to keep updated on the situation in Uvira and Fizi. Now, I will share some of what I have been hearing. We start in the Ubwari Peninsula, down in Fizi Territory.
The Ubwari Peninsula juts into Lake Tanganyika, south of Baraka and just north of Kazimia. In the month of March, battles continued between Amani Leo troops and Mai Mai Yakutumba on the Ubwari. Thus, accessibility to the villages in the Ubwari has been limited for humanitarian agents, and there is very little information on refugee movements and civilian casualties coming from the area. Fighting near Kazimia has resulted in at least 1 reported civilian casualty. Last year SOS FED closed the reception center in Kazimia, which was the right decision, given the current proximity of combat.
There are concerns about the lack of protection in the area around Kilembwe, in the Haut Plateau, where the FLDR is targeting the civilian population. Many of the mass rapes committed by the FDLR this year happened in the vicinity of Kilembwe and Kilimba. Supposedly there are plans for a larger Amani Leo operation to head into the Kilembwe area to drive out the FDLR. Right now, MONUSCO patrols only reach Kilicha. On March 14, more than 40 civilians were robbed by the FDLR on their way to the market in Kilicha.
The Mai Mai is waylaying and robbing travelers on the road from Uvira to Baraka, near the villages of Elila and Kabondozi. On March 16, a vehicle belonging to the NGO TEARFUND was ambushed and robbed near Mukindje, about 15 km from Baraka. In these incidents, there were no reported injuries.In March, more FNL activity has been reported, throwing in another wrench in the machine. The FNL (Forces Nationales pour la Libération) is a Burundian rebel movement that is opposed to the current government in Burundi. In Uvira Territory, combat between the FNL and the FARDC on March 12 disrupted agricultural activity near Kiliba; when farmers hear that there is fighting close by, they become reluctant to go to their fields. In Fizi, as of March 15 it was reported that over 200 FNL troops were camped out in the forest of Lulambo, near the village of Kabembwe.
Now, we return to Uvira Territory, for a demonstration of just how difficult it is to negotiate the security situation in South Kivu. Due to increased incidents of armed bandits waylaying travelers in the Runingu area, the Pakistani Battalion of MONUSCO (PAKBATT) stationed in Uvira Territory attempted to create a Temporary Operations Base (TOB) in Kashatu. However, they soon abandoned their plans, due to a lack of support from the local authorities. Apparently, the local authorities wanted more and more money from MONUSCO for “permission” to put a TOB there, even though this would have increased security for the civilian population. Again, another demonstration of just how difficult it is, even for the UN, to stabilize the security situation in a region rife with corruption.
In February, Médecins Sans Frontières released a briefing on the “dramatic increase in mass rape and violence” in Fizi Territory. There are worries that the conflict in Fizi is entering into a “new phase of brutality”. In recent years, MSF saw a decline in reported incidents of sexual violence in Fizi; however, this trend is starting to reverse itself. The situation of women in Fizi, which has never been good, is getting worse.
On March 13, I wrote an entry about the cases of mass rape that have been rising since the beginning of the year. Please refer to that entry for a more complete picture of this “new phase of brutality”. Stay tuned for more.
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Security briefing
1 CommentOn February 28th, a vehicle belonging to CCAP, a local NGO based in Uvira, was stopped by bandits up near Magunda, in Uvira Territory. CCAP coordinates the efforts of 28 local NGOs working on food security, civil society, health and sanitation, and sexual violence. The bandits took money, cell phones, and the clothes of the passengers. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
The zone where the CCAP vehicle was taken is by no means safe as churches, but it was still a bit disquieting to learn of such an incident so close to Uvira in an area considered not near as dangerous as it was back in 2009.
According to UN sources, Amani Leo troops are pulling out of some of the smaller villages in Fizi Territory and moving into the bigger towns for re-organization and training. On March 5, we got a call from the ANR in Kikonde to tell us that the Mai Mai had just moved into Kikonde, which means that our visit there for March was cancelled. The Mai Mai are not implicated in near as many rapes as the Amani Leo troops, who are truly a scourge to the civilian population of Fizi Territory, but their unpredictable behavior makes it difficult to travel and work in areas they control.
On February 26th, the FDLR raped around 50 women (and a few men) on the road to the market in Milimba. This is the 6th case of mass rape in the Haut Plateau in 2011. The number of reported rape cases in the Haut Plateau is around 150 just since January 19th. Chew on that statistic a little bit and tell me there shouldn’t be more done. Médecins Sans Frontières responds to many of these mass rape incidents, but the simple truth is that there isn’t enough being done to stop the violence, particularly against women.
Just how difficult is it to bring security to South Kivu? The answer is very difficult. The FDLR is very well entrenched in the remote areas, controlling mineral mines and fishing around key areas near the border with Katanga Province. They are adequately trained and equipped, and can simply melt into the jungles when attacked. In Fizi Territory, the roads, where they exist, are terrible. In the Haut Plateau, most places are only accessible via footpath or helicopter. The MONUSCO troops do not have a substantial presence in Fizi, and therefore are unwilling to send what few troops they have there out to get ambushed in the jungle. When I asked the UN people why there isn’t a greater troop presence in Fizi, they told me it is because of lack of resources. Fizi is far away from Bukavu, where MONUSCO is headquartered in South Kivu, and therefore the lines of supply and communication are stretched.
MONUSCO is the largest UN mission anywhere, but the Congo is such a vast country with so little infrastructure that it remains difficult to keep the peace, especially in areas like Fizi Territory. This problem is greatly compounded by several other facts:
- The rebel factions and militias (various groups of Mai Mai, FDLR, FRF, etc.) are numerous, complicated, and have shifting alliances.
- The FARDC is undisciplined and resented by many in Fizi because of ethnic unbalances within the ranks and the fact that many of FARDC troops are comprised of soldiers of previous Rwandan-backed rebel groups that ravaged the civilian populations of the Kivus (AFDL, RCD, CNDP).
- The illegal mineral trade has implications for governments, generals, and politicians beyond the Congo’s borders.
What does this mean for small NGOs like SOS FED? The lack of security in Fizi Territory makes work difficult, to say the least. SOS FED had to shut down their reception center in Kazimia because the FDLR and Mai Mai are camped too close to ensure the security of the staff. The Mai Mai looted the reception center in Mboko back in 2009, although no one was hurt. Visiting the SOS FED reception center in Kikonde is very difficult because of continued Mai Mai and FDLR presence in the area.
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The War on Women’s Bodies
Leave a CommentToday Amisi, Marceline, and I are getting together a list of supplies we will be sending down to the centers in Mboko and Kikonde. This list includes basic necessities such as rice, beans, cooking oil, and soap. Thanks to these staples, survivors of sexual violence can take time to recover in the physical and mental safety of the centers.
Despite the fact that women provide the economic backbone of the Congo, it is horrifying to think that many are barely able to sustain themselves and their children. This is particularly tragic in the case of rape survivors. Rape carries a strong social stigma for women in Congo, and therefore the consequences in such socially centered communities are devastating. Women who are raped are often rejected by their communities, and even by their families. Some women at the centers will tell you about their husbands kicking them out of the house after they were raped. These women are falsely labeled as “prostitutes”, and because of the social stigma, they are often unable to participate economically in their community. Some of these women end up becoming prostitutes, as being already labeled as such means that it may be the only economic option available. Thus, what does a woman do to provide for herself and her children? She may end up selling her body, even after it has been ravaged against her will.Of course, prostitution is widely available throughout this part of East Africa, especially since men don’t really have to worry about any social consequences for their sexual behavior. Abortion? Forget it, a woman can be thrown in jail for even saying she wants an abortion. Contraceptives? Only if the man agrees to it. A saying among a lot of men around here is that “you can’t taste the lollipop without removing the wrapper”. Translation: condoms are for suckers.
In this war-torn and politically unstable region, it has been an all-out war on women’s bodies, both in the form of rape and in economic terms as well. The message seems pretty clear: a woman’s body does not belong to herself, but instead to the man with the gun or the man with the fat pocketbook. The total breakdown of law and order and the nature of the war allow for this culture to germinate, as it would happen anywhere in the world under similar circumstances. Honestly, there is nothing more infuriating about working in the Congo than having to think about these realities.
This is why the SOS FED centers are so vital to building peace and equality. Women can recover without starving or selling their bodies. They can cultivate communally, harvesting produce in tranquil fields among others who have shared their experiences. They will have an income, through which they can buy soap and cooking oil themselves, and send their children to school. These women can return to their communities through interventions from the reintegration staff; they will tell their community leaders that these women should not be shunned.
Soap, rice, beans, cooking oil. We will pack it onto a big fuso (transport truck) and send it down into Fizi. When the harvest for beans and manioc occurs, we will get a fuso to bring the produce up to Uvira so the women can sell it at a higher price. The women of the Congo endure.
Congolese women in Baraka, Fizi Territory
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Down in Fizi
Leave a CommentOn Februry 7th, Amisi, Marceline, and myself made our first official field visit down into Fizi Territory, visiting the SOS FED center in Mboko and visiting with the managers of the SOS FED Kikonde center. We had to meet Sangho and Mimmy, the Kikonde center managers, in the town of Baraka, as the road to Kikonde was too close to some recent battles between Amani Leo troops and opposing elements of the Mai Mai.
In order to get us all down there, we hired a motorcycle and driver to carry Marceline. Our driver was named Hali, which in Swahili means “The Situation”. I explained to Amisi and Hali that there was a famous American TV star that went by the same name. When they inquired what the American “Situation” did on television (actor? musician?), I had a really difficult time explaining to them that he was not a talented individual, but just famous for being stupid. Alas, the cultural gap.
The road into Fizi can only be described as bone-crunching, but scenic. Most of the way it follows Lake Tanganyika’s shoreline, and as one goes further and further into Fizi it feels as if the jungle is swallowing you whole. All the towns kind of look the same, with the same signs (bearing the painted logos of various international NGOs) proclaiming some development project (clinic, school, etc.) that has since fallen into dilapidation. We passed by small markets where women sat by vegetables, oil, and piles of ndagala (fry-sized fish) swarming with flies. We also passed many women hiking back from their fields, shouldering heavy loads of produce or firewood. Most of the men we passed were leisurely sitting in the shade, chatting and glaring at us when we passed by.
I first visited the SOS FED center in Mboko in the summer of 2009. This time around, there is a new lupongo (fence) built around the center to shield it, and the outdoor kitchen finally has a roof. I was very glad to see Mariamu Bashishibe, the center manager, and her assistant Chamulungo. We met for an hour or so, talking about plans for 2011, and got an update on how many women had come to the center in the past month, how many therapy sessions they held, etc.
We left Mboko after a while to get to Baraka before dark. Once in Baraka, we checked into the Hotel Pili-Pili (“Chili-Pepper Hotel”), and then we hustled off to meet Sangho Laliya, the director of the Kikonde center, and her assistant Mimmy.
Sangho and Mimmy reported that the Kikonde center had already received 14 women in the month of January. Two of these women reported that they had been violated by Amani Leo troops in Fizi town during the infamous mass rape of January 1st. Through word of mouth, these women had heard that “SOS FED is there to help you”, and had trekked to Kikonde. It was encouraging to hear that SOS FED has such a reputation all over Fizi Territory, even if I find it extremely sad that in this time of unprecedented “peace”, SOS FED’s services are still in very high demand.
On our way back, we stopped at Mboko again to visit a hectare where beneficiaries were cultivated miyogo (manioc). The field was surrounded by squat palm trees, the air buzzing with the calls of exotic birds and the harsh whine of insects. It was hot and humid, and you could almost feel things germinating on your skin. As the women tilled the green-brown earth, they talked to each other in loud voices, joking and gossiping. Indeed, it was clear that the therapy aspect of SOS FED’s services extended beyond group therapy sessions at the centers. Here in the fields, I saw women working together, talking together, healing together.
We showed women photos of the completed Ahadi Quilts, assembled by quilting societies in East Lansing, Michigan and Columbia, Maryland. The women were very pleased to see the results, happy that someone abroad was taking interest in the expression of their experiences.
The manioc and bean harvest is supposed to be sometime in March. Stay tuned for more.
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Mboko Meeting Recap
Leave a CommentI recently arrived back in Bujumbura after a productive, albeit dusty and tiring, séjour in Mboko village, South Kivu, Congo. The SOS FED field team, having come together from all corners of Fizi Territory, had some interesting things to share, and really brought me up to speed on the progress of the current campaign of rape prevention they have put into place. The journey to Mboko was remarkably free of problems, and a little bit of planning kept us moving quickly through the road blocks and security check points. Thanks very much to SOS FED’s Uvira team for that. Here is a quick recap of what went during the Mboko meeting.
First, AP and Zivik have provided much needed support for SOS FED’s community fields program, which was a key agenda for the days of meetings in Mboko. The program, in a nutshell, encourages survivors of sexual violence working with SOS FED to form cooperative cultivation teams, then rents them the necessary hectares of land and monitors their production. Money made in the fields is divided among the cooperative cultivation teams, with each woman benefiting directly from their work. This may sound basic, but the key difference from traditional cultivation in Congo lies in the ‘cooperative’ aspect of the current program. Far too many SOS FED beneficiaries have found themselves in their current place-that is, trying to recover from violent sexual violence-because of their need to cultivate fields in often remote regions of Fizi Territory, where land can be rented at the lowest price. So, AP and Zivik have begun providing fields to women once two conditions have been met. First, a field must be located near a principal route or well-traveled footpath. Second, a field must not be worked by one woman, but by her cooperative group. In this way, vulnerability is reduced in that women are cultivating together (strength in numbers) and doing so in areas of Fizi Territory that are not so isolated as to provide ideal striking grounds for the regions roving militias. This slight modification has been showing positive signs of reducing vulnerability and protecting Congolese women trying to put food on their table. We all gave a big ‘bravo’ to this program, and are currently toying with numerous ways to precisely monitor field output in order to determine which types of crops in which areas provide the most profit to SOS FED’s beneficiaries.
Amisi from SOS FED and I in Mboko village
In addition, the much awaited ‘Ahadi’ program has been given wings as of this last meeting. Though the program is well underway, the AP Fellow working from Bujumbura and I will be saving details on this until a later date. The program involves art as a means for advocacy, and places SOS FED beneficiaries in the driver’s seat of their own advocacy campaign. More on that will be available later. Materials are in place and the wheels are in motion.
Finally, the SOS FED field teams and I touched base on the current situation in and around the three SOS FED reception centers in Fizi Territory. The news is bleak, in that all of the centers are currently above capacity and receiving new visitors looking for a safe space to stay daily. The current Amani Leo operation in South Kivu has not ended the rape crisis as one might think from listening to Congolese Radio. Surely, Amani Leo is forcing FDLR militias deeper into the forests, but that doesn’t stop them from raping local women. It merely moves the sites of these violations to much less traveled areas of South Kivu where the Amani Leo force ceases to hold influence. Additionally, as the Amani Leo force is formed of FARDC [Congolese soldiers-reportedly responsible for 80% of the rapes in eastern Congo] and the ex-CNDP [notoriously violent militia soldiers once commanded by war criminal Laurent Nkunda], the population is not necessarily much better off than if the FDLR roamed free in the region. Correct me if I am wrong here, but rape is rape, regardless of the militia du jour that commits it. A perfect example lies in the fact that the SOS FED Mboko center was pillaged and forced to empty not too long ago at the hands of the state-sponsored protectors of Congo, the FARDC. No militia necessary. Thus, not a jovial ending to this blog, but a hopeful one in that the work continues.
None of the SOS FED field staff in attendance at Mboko gave any signs of the weariness a life in Congo can inspire. Quite the opposite, their presence at the meeting was a testament to their strength and commitment to improving their region. This will involve making good use of scant resources, staying organized, pulling from that never-ending well of patience and resilience, and keeping SOS FED moving towards their admirable goals. This is a lot easier said than done, especially in such an ‘interesting’ zone of eastern Congo. But, like I said, the work continues.
Ned Meerdink
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South Kivu Travel Agency
Leave a CommentThis evening, I returned home from my most recent series of planning meetings with AP’s DRC partner, SOS Femmes en Danger (SOS FED). This time, our meetings were logistical in nature, as we are currently organizing a large meeting/training session/organizational update for the SOS FED staff and have to figure out how exactly to get the staff from each SOS FED reception center to Mboko village in South Kivu to rendez-vous. SOS FED currently has 3 reception centers for survivors of sexual violence in South Kivu spread throughout the province in the villages of Mboko, Kikonde, and Kazimia.
300 kilometers of no roads and questionable security conditions through numerous rebel-held villages separate Center Kazimia, the southernmost from the SOS FED installation, from the northernmost Center Mboko. The SOS FED village field workers are preparing to arrive by a confusing combination of motorcycles, boats, and transport lorries normally reserved for corn and manioc in order to get to our meeting on the 2nd of August to speak face-to-face and truly begin putting the ‘Combating Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo’ campaign into action.
So, next time you are considering the horrible inconvenience of your two hour layover in Indianapolis or even your ten hour wait in Addis Ababa en route to somewhere else, consider the following itinerary for our SOS FED representative working in Kazimia, South Kivu:
1. Take the dugout pirogue from Kazimia towards Yungu. Estimated time of travel is anywhere between 5 hours and 2 days, depending on the load of fish being ferried and the availability of gas in Kazimia to power an unpredictable outboard motor. The captain of the ship has failed to sympathize with our plea to get our colleague to Yungu in time to meet and thus can’t even guarantee the day he might be on his way. Quote: ‘When gas costs $3/liter, we can’t really move without the boat being full of fish to sell to pay our way back. So, I’ll send a message once we get enough fish.’ This is more than understood by everyone on our end, but there are no cell phone networks in Kazimia, so we are unsure how the message will reach us.
2. Arrive at Yungu whenever, and get moving on foot towards Kikonde. Believe me, a 35 km walk is a lot slower when navigating around shady road blocks in mid-day Congo sun. In the event of a nighttime arrival our colleague will have to sleep at the port, because at night the road blocks get drunker.
3. Now, hitch a ride to Baraka, which is a city center in South Kivu, on board a motorcycle making the trip without a passenger. We’ve gotten lucky in the past with drivers from larger aid organizations on the lookout for an extra passenger or two and the ‘pocket money’ that service generates for them. And make haste, because real delays are to be expected at road blocks at Kikonde and on the outskirts of Baraka.
4. Finally, get yourself on a bus for the remaining 150km towards Mboko on any truck in sight moving north. Riding on top of bean sacks with 50 other passengers here is not to be ruled out, but don’t plan on a very cushy ride or even a seat for that matter. Also, everybody out on hills and on river crossings…
After all this, our colleague will be in Mboko with us, following between 2 days and a week of traveling. And, as I’ve seen with my own eyes many times, she’ll arrive in nice clean pagne (fabric), not a hair out of place, looking like she’s on the way to a wedding—at the same time mentally poised and ready to sort out a pretty complex program. It defies all logic, but then again the Congolese women are the toughest and most resilient I’ve ever been lucky enough to work with.
Ned Meerdink
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Uvira News Flash
2 Comments[Rather than write three separate entries concerning three recent items of note in Uvira, I decided to combine them for the sake of ease in posting considering an increasingly rare internet connection as of late.]
Vesta Co-op party to benefit Tunza Mazingira
First, thanks to Vesta Cooperative House in East Lansing, Michigan for ‘partying with a purpose’ on behalf of an AP partner in eastern Congo. Vesta Co-op opened their doors to MSU students and community members last Friday from 9 pm to the wee hours of the morning in order to benefit AP partner Tunza Mazingira (‘Protect the Environment’ in Swahili) and the alternative cooking fuel program which was started this last year by Tunza field worker Clément Kitambala. As Tunza believes that environmental protection equates with civilian protection in the eastern Congolese context, alternative cooking fuel has become a major focus of Tunza’s work. Congolese women regularly risk their personal safety to go into the forests to collect firewood (making them increasingly vulnerable to violence and rape at the hands of the ever-present active armed groups), or sacrifice their stressed family budgets to purchase expensive traditional ‘makala’ in town to cook, which rises weekly in price in response to growing insecurity in the zones where it is produced and increasing scarcity of eucalyptus, which is used to produce makala and is being rampantly deforested.
Vesta Co-op raised over $800 for further development of Clément’s program with alternative cooking briquettes, which are composed of organic waste and offer a multitude of environmental, economic, and security-related benefits for Congolese civilians, which you can read about in greater detail here. The money will go directly to Tunza Mazingira, and will allow us to 1) build three new briquette presses, 2) offer small loans to women cooking and selling road-side food using alternative cooking fuel, 3) give work to 12 demobilized girls coming out of armed groups (which decreases the likeliness of their rejoining militias due to lack of income), who are making and selling alternative briquettes and will do so on a larger scale in the coming weeks with the new presses, and 4) spread awareness throughout Uvira on the benefits of using the briquettes in place of wood or makala-based cooking fires. Vesta Co-op’s generosity (and that of all the party goers) has jump-started Clément’s work in Uvira, and everyone from Tunza’s staff sends their sincere thanks to the co-opers and everyone responsible for organizing the party, making food, buying/drinking booze, and collecting money. All this sort of makes me wish I was still in college…To check out what an East Lansing paper wrote about the benefit, look here.
Watu wenge sana
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Secondly, and completely unrelated, is the status of the Kimya II operation to ‘throw out or kill’ thousands of FDLR rebels in South Kivu. I could merely quote the pro-government propaganda aired each night on national radio which says that all is going well and that the FDLR are on their way to extinction, but instead I’d like to offer you a linguistic clue as to what the status of the operation is.
Currently, if you have severe diarrhea in Uvira, you will say (if you are up on local slang), ‘Nasikia Kimya II kabisa.’ [literally, ‘I have serious Kimya II’]. This uncomfortable, dangerous, and frequent killer of civilians used to be called ‘kuhara’ (the literal translation of ‘diarrhea’ into Swahili), but is now simply called ‘Kimya II’. This pretty much sums the operation up. N.B. According to the 2008 IRC mortality report for Congo, diarrhea is one of the primary contributors to the 30,000 or so civilians dying each month due to ‘war related’ causes in eastern Congo, which include lack of housing and clean water due to populations fleeing combat, ruined clinics and lack of medical care, and a variety of other problems intensified and unaddressed in light of the insecurity here. Thus, the sense of this recent addition to the ‘Uvira dictionary’ seems pretty clear. The people have spoken and offered a pretty candid approximation on Kimya II’s recent results. Having had no running water in three weeks, everyone in Uvira is starting to feel a bit of ‘Kimya II’ one way or another.
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Thirdly, AP partner SOS Femmes en Danger and I were finally able to arrange the much awaited arrival of the uniforms and school supplies so kindly donated by Diane Von Furstenburg in the villages of Kazimia, Kikonde, and Mboko. The uniforms and supplies benefited children of single mothers, widows, and victims of sexual violence. A small gap in fighting opened up the roads for movement South from Uvira, and now lots of kids are back in class, albeit a bit late. A bad omen for the immediate future emerged when combat resumed as the trip was coming to an end, with Mai-Mai vs. FARDC battles in Kikonde and Mboko (even in heavily populated Baraka town), and FDLR occupation and partial burning of a village 4 km from Kazimia.
One of over 200 DVF sponsored students in her school's office in Kikonde
Nevertheless, thanks very much to Diana Von Furstenburg for making it possible for so many kids in Fizi to continue their studies. The regulations at schools in Congo are fairly draconian concerning the requirement of new uniforms for incoming students, so ‘le rentre’ would have been impossible for a lot of kids without the DVF support. Now, if only security can improve a bit to create an atmosphere where studying can happen without fear and without firefights drowning out recitations and lessons.
Ned Meerdink
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Mariamu “Marie” Bashishibe: Fearless woman in a fearful time
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Marie Bashishibe
Meet Mariamu “Marie” Bashishibe. Marie is the site director of the SOS Femmes en Danger reception center in Mboko, Fizi Territory. This reception center shelters up to 30 women who are victims of sexual violence, domestic abuse, and marginalization by the community. Many of the women at the center were abducted and raped by one of numerous armed groups that infest Fizi Territory. Many of the women are the widows of soldiers and have no means of support. All the women at the center are objects to cruel derision and marginalization in their communities. They are called “prostitutes” and other harsh names, even if their experience was by no choice of their own.
“There are some women here that were kicked out of their homes by their husbands because they were raped,” said Marie, “Their husbands claim that since they were raped, they are now infected with viruses and sickness, and so they simply throw them out.”
“The community here neglects and derides these women,” she continued, “They are subject to neglect and derision. Even their families reject them. Even their country rejects them.”
Indeed, the situation of women in Congo is very poor. Marie spoke at length about this unsavory aspect of Congolese society.
“Women here are very neglected, even if they do all the work and are essentially the breadwinners of the family,” said Marie, “Women educate the children, feed them, clothe them. They are responsible for everything. Husbands sit under the trees and play Ludo [a popular board game] all day. All the while their wives work in the fields, bring back the food, and prepare the food. Men will forget they haven’t put forth any effort to provide the food, but they will certainly eat it!”
“In addition,” continued Marie, “Men will beat their wives, saying ‘don’t you know how to cook? You used too little oil in the meal!”
“The men forget their women. In Fizi, to be a wife is to be forgotten. These women have nothing. Men try to play us like pieces in their board game, doing whatever they want whenever they want it.”
Marie also told us about how girls are held back from opportunities for education by their families, and how the only future considered for girls is to be married off at a young age. If a woman’s husband runs off or dies, she is expected to marry again and keep making children, or else she will be considered a prostitute. To make matters worse, the government does little to improve the lives women in Congo, despite the fact that the Congolese constitution guarantees equal rights to women.
“In the case of the government,” said Marie, “I haven’t seen anything at all working to help us here. There is nothing here. We don’t see any improvements.”
Women at the SOS FED reception center in Mboko
In this atmosphere, it is easy to see how marginalization is a terrible sentence for a woman in Congo. Thus, the center is available to these women so they have a bed to sleep in, food, basic medical treatment, and shelter from the abuse of their community. However, Marie feels that there needs to be more to change the overall situation of women in Congo.
“Education is the start,” said Marie, “This has to be given to girls as well as boys. Secondly, our soldiers need to be reeducated, so that they can learn to respect our women. Thirdly, women should be able to control their finances, so women can monitor their household and keep their own money. If women are able to drive their households, men will then recognize our value and begin respecting the work we do.”
It should now be obvious that Marie is a fearless woman, speaking out against deeply entrenched chauvinist traditions and a war that has had a particularly devastating impact on women. Not often does one find someone with Marie’s candor.
Marie has been working at the center in Mboko for two years. She hopes that in coming years, SOS Femmes en Dangers will be able to provide education to the women of Fizi, giving them the skills necessary to end sexual violence and promote equality for women in their communities.
“When women know their rights, they know how to defend themselves. A woman can’t defend herself without this knowledge. An educated woman applies this to her life, and thus the situation can change.”
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Visit to SOS Femmes en Danger in Mboko
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The women at the SOS FED center in Mboko
SOS Femmes en Dangers (SOS FED) is a local organization in South Kivu whose mission is to help women who have been victims of sexual violence. On July 29th Ned and I had the opportunity to visit SOS FED’s refuge center in Mboko, deep in Fizi Territory. The center is for women who have been victims of sexual violence at the hands of the roving bands of soldiers that infest the jungles of Fizi. The services that the center provides are simple, but women who go there are given a safe place to recover from the physical and mental trauma of their experience.
In the Congo, soldiers of all affiliations use sexual violence against women to terrorize the population into submission. After a woman has been violated, she will often find herself ostracized by her community and rejected by her family. In addition to the obstacles to reintegration, she may often suffer from any number of health problems stemming from physical and sexual abuse, including severe genital mutilation.
Soldiers will also abduct women and hold them as virtual slaves in military camps in “the bush”. The women are subjected to constant physical and sexual abuse, and may be kept for as long as three years. If a woman has had children in the bush, they are often killed before she is released.
The SOS FED field center gives women who have been violated a safe place to stay and recover. When I visited, there were eighteen women living at the center. One of them had just come out of the bush five days ago; she was only 19, but already had had three children by soldiers. There are only two big bedrooms at the center, so the women are stacked nine to a room. Some of the women are bedridden due to illness. The center is low on food and medicine.
Along with SOS FED staff member Amisi Munga, Ned and I recorded the testimony of four of the women. We also interviewed the site director, a tall, austere woman named Mariamu “Marie” Bashishibe. Marie talked at length about the suffering of these women. Marie told us about the fates of those who cannot stay at the center; the capacity of the center is very small, and therefore it can barely make a dent in helping the hundreds of women who are victimized each year. These women in Fizi Territory can expect to receive no assistance from the government; in fact, many of them have been victimized by soldiers of their own government, and not just by militia or invading rebels from Rwanda and Burundi.
Despite the suffering they had endured, these women demonstrated enormous strength and courage. I was moved by the fact that they were very open to telling their stories on camera. They asked us to take their pictures. Their hospitality was unparalleled; they prepared for us a large feast of rice, beans, and fish, and before I left Marie presented me with a chicken as a gift from the women.
Right now, we are working on completely translating the interviews with the women from Kibembe so we can get a clearer picture of their experiences. Today there is no justice for them, but hopefully by giving them a voice, someone out there will listen.
(l-r) Amisi, Walter, Marie, and Karl the chicken