Posts by Harper McConnell
Mama Noella: Voices of Hope in Congo
Published June 05, 2009 @ 06:29PM PT
This piece was written by Harper McConnell of HEAL Africa, as part of a continuing series looking at rape as a weapon of war in Congo, and - more important - how Congolese women are reclaiming their lives.
Mama Noella
We were in Masisi, a small town in the endless rolling green mountains of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It was only two months into what would be two years living in the Congo working for Heal Africa, a Congolese hospital and organization dedicated to healthcare, education and micro-finance initiatives.
My Swahili and French were very rough at that point and I was traveling with five of my co-workers, only one of whom spoke English. Naturally I accidentally said things of absolute hilarity and nonsense, one of which came on that trip to Masisi. We were sitting outside at night waiting for dinner at a small wooden built structure called a hotel. Someone asked me if I understood something. When trying to say that I did, I answered, “Ninalewa, “ or in other words, “I am drunk.”
Needless to say I have yet to live that comment down and am still reminded of it until this day. One of my co-workers there was a woman named Noella who I would soon consider to be my mother in the Congo. After dinner we danced to the infamous Congolese rumba rhythm in her room and collapsed on the floor in laughter when our other colleague knocked on the door to find out what all the commotion was about.
That night before I went to sleep, I was a little apprehensive as fighting between warring factions in the area had happened not long ago. I sat beside Mama Noella on her bed and she put her arm around me and sang hymns in Swahili until my eyes were heavy. I felt like I was six years old being rocked to sleep.
Mama Noella naturally exudes an air of youthfulness and wisdom. I feel at peace every time I speak with her, yet ironically she has every reason in the world to not emanate this comfort. Her husband was murdered six years ago when she was giving birth to her fifth child in the hospital.
From the Field: The Difficulties of Coming Home
Published June 01, 2009 @ 01:13PM PT
This piece was written by Harper McConnell of HEAL Africa.
It has been over almost three years since I first arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I went as a somewhat naïve, idealistic college graduate, interested in politics and literature, and the ways in which I could extract what I love from these mediums to bridge a gap between what we know as reality in America and what the majority of the world knows as reality.
I ended up staying in Congo for two years. And I came back as, well, I am not sure what. Maybe as someone who believes that anything, anything is possible. And that "anything" is really a euphemism that encompasses both unspeakable atrocities and the fulfillment of the deemed impossible dream.
I was thrown into a world of paradoxes, where abnormal things became commonplace. Where death and disease dance with little children, dictating a waltz of suffering while fleeing from war, I saw the exhausted but determined and unwavering eyes of my Congolese co-workers taking 35 refugees off the road into an eight person Landcruiser to bring to the closest camp.
Where physically and spiritually destroyed women bear burdens that no human being should imagine exist, I saw Congolese doctors, counselors, and teachers working to heal their mothers, sisters, and daughters.
In a place described as a “black hell-hole” by a celebrity who visited Goma for a couple of hours, I found vibrant friends and dancing that puts Justin Timberlake to shame.
Responding to Rape in Congo: The Way Forward
Published March 03, 2009 @ 08:38PM PT
The piece below was written by Dr. Christophe Kimona, the HEAL Africa Medical Director, and by Harper McConnell, the US Director of Development for HEAL Africa.
As mentioned before, too many - far too many - posts about rape simply focus on women as passive victims. This piece is the third in a series by HEAL Africa, which focuses instead on how one aid agency is working with rape survivors and communities to respond to this crisis. Part one is here, and part two is here.
To read more about the causes, consequences and responses to mass rape in Congo, see here.
Community-Based Change
Last week I was in Kayna, a village here in northeastern DR Congo, where most humanitarian aid organizations cannot reach because of the conflict. The health professionals we train are working in appalling conditions. The beds are grass mats, the operating and delivery tables are bloody, broken, and basically non-functioning. They don’t have enough medicine. The HEAL Africa medical staff showed up and tried to work in these conditions, but it is virtually impossible to have a significant health impact without materials. We were able to go back and cross rebel lines and bring more supplies and medications including PEP kits, which prevent the spread of HIV and STIs after rape. This support was huge for their morale and we will bring more equipment since we have just received a donation.
Without good health it is impossible to rebuild a community. To “develop” requires good health and HEAL Africa works for this not only by training local nurses and providing medications for rural health centers, but also by mobilizing the community to address priority issues that they themselves define. One of the central issues is sexual violence and the utter lack of women’s healthcare. When women’s health issues are left unaddressed the whole societal structure collapses. This is why we are working with communities to not only improve healthcare for women, but more importantly to openly discuss the treatment of women in our society and why sexual violence is such a large problem.
It is necessary to have functioning institutions in order for heinous crimes such as sexual violence to decrease. HEAL Africa intervenes in four institutional structures whose strengths or weaknesses directly correlate to sexual violence: health, judiciary, the Church, and education.
Healthcare
As mentioned above, without adequate, standardized health institutions it is extremely difficult to treat survivors of sexual violence. Women suffer for years with fistula because of the lack of rural healthcare capacity. There are women who lived with fistula for 35-40 years. By training and investing in rural healthcare, women can receive treatment immediately, thereby avoiding years of stigma and rejection that come along with issues of fistula and rape.
Judiciary
Law is synonymous with impunity in eastern DRC and without redress for sexual violence it will continue to be viewed as an issue only affecting the survivor. In partnership with the American Bar Association, HEAL Africa is in the process of establishing community mediation clinics throughout North Kivu and Maniema provinces to cover the absence of local tribunals that are supposed to exist under the constitution, but are not funded by the government. By participating in training lawyers, judges, and communities to prosecute human rights violators, HEAL Africa has increased the number of sexual violence cases brought to court this year in Goma to 234, which is incredibly significant given the state of the courts and the stigma attached with rape. The justice system is a massive institution to overhaul, but communities cannot wait for the central government to act, they must first develop grassroots initiatives.
Religious Institutions
The Church is the most important institution in terms of propagating attitudes and ideas about women. Ninety percent of Congolese people belong to a faith community, therefore in order to change the treatment of women, religious institutions must act as the driving force for transformation. The Nehemiah Committees, as mentioned in the two former pieces, are local synergies of faith-based groups working together to re-build their war-torn communities. HEAL Africa, in conjunction with the Nehemiah Committees, host trainings and discussions for all religious leaders using a curriculum based on the Bible, the Koran, and traditional African proverbs which show the valor and equity of women in society. These happen throughout the whole province during the entire year and create dialogue that has stimulated a significant shift in teaching about women in the church. If religious institutions assume women’s rights as a battle the church has a responsibility to fight, then sexual violence will significantly decrease, particularly non-armed sexual violence.
Education
Lastly, perceptions about gender relations and equity form at a young age and the education children receive in school highly influences a child’s attitude towards the other sex. HEAL Africa trains primary and secondary school teachers with a curriculum that engages children in discussions about gender relations through drama, music, games, and readings. If gender equity is practiced in the classroom, then this school age generation will have a profound positive impact on the reduction of gender-based violence.
In closing this series, sexual violence is not an issue that can be addressed through one or two mediums, instead any lasting change will come through a holistic community approach engaging political and religious leaders, medical professionals, communities, lawyers, judges, counselors, educators, and women. It is a daunting task, but there are Congolese working day and night, fighting for women’s rights and for the right to peace. You can help them.
What You Can Do
-Find out more about how to support HEAL Africa’s work at www.healafrica.org
-Ask your representative to support House Resolution 1227 condemning sexual violence in DRC and calling on the international community to respond. Click here for the letter.
[Broken hospital bed in Congo - Photo from HEAL Africa]
Community-Driven Responses to Rape in Congo
Published March 02, 2009 @ 09:28AM PT
The piece below was written by Harper McConnell, the US Director of Development for HEAL Africa. She spent two years in Goma, DRC, and is now based in Seattle.
As mentioned before, too many - far too many - posts about rape simply focus on women as passive victims. This piece is the third in a series by HEAL Africa, which focuses instead on how one aid agency is working with rape survivors and communities to respond to this crisis. Part one is here, and part three is here.
To read more about the causes, consequences and responses to mass rape in Congo, see here.
Community-Driven Responses to Rape in Congo
In addition to peace, the development of human infrastructure is necessary not only to reduce the pervasiveness of sexual violence, but also to cope with the impact the violation imposes on both the woman and the population. By training and investing in community members who can play integral roles in the healing and prevention processes, HEAL Africa aims to make gender-based violence an issue that the community must tackle; not just a problem that a woman must deal with on her own.
Charlotte Riziki fled her hometown of Masisi with her three children and her husband while she was pregnant during the second Congo war. She was a schoolteacher in Masisi and her husband was a tradesman. When they reached Goma, the provincial capital, they had nowhere to stay, no money, and were surrounded by other refugees in the same position. Her husband decided to join the army with the hopes that he could somehow provide for the family. He was sent to a different province and two months later Charlotte received notice that he was killed.
She now had four children and was unable to feed them everyday. Before the war, she and her husband had no problem providing for the basic needs of their family, but now Charlotte did not know how they could survive. A woman in her church told her about a widows’ group that met to encourage and pray for one another. It was there that Charlotte met several widows who were HEAL Africa counselors who had dedicated themselves to helping women who were survivors of sexual violence.
Charlotte impressed the counselors with her gentle, yet determined demeanor despite her tragic circumstances. They asked her to come to a counselor training session at HEAL Africa. After the training, she was hired as a counselor to supervise a Safe House that provides shelter, counseling, literacy, and vocational training for survivors of sexual violence. After 5 years of working with HEAL Africa, Charlotte now owns a house, pays for all of her children to attend school, and is a source of strength and wisdom for women who are treated at the HEAL Africa hospital for rape and labor-induced traumas.
She is one of the 320 counselors trained by HEAL Africa to identify and assist survivors of sexual violence. She now works at the hospital, counseling patients who are waiting for fistula repair surgery. At any given time there are 120-150 women waiting for fistula repair, a condition induced by either brutal rape or lack of pre-natal care and labor complications, causing incontinence. The hospital specializes in fistula repair and orthopedic surgery and performs more than 1000 operations a year with a staff of 18 Congolese doctors and 48 Congolese nurses.
Fistula is an isolating condition, shaming the woman for her inability to give birth and for the obvious hygienic issues associated with incontinence. Not only this, but the majority of women from rural areas support themselves through agrarian means. But, a fistula makes it incredibly difficult to spend hours in the field. So, while they are at the hospital they have the opportunity to participate in a program called Healing Arts that provides sewing classes, literacy classes, and small business and financial training. It provides them with a way to make money during their stay by sewing Healing Arts products which are sold in Congo and North America, equips them with skills that are applicable for their life at home, and most importantly creates a space where physical and emotional healing is possible.
When a woman returns home from the hospital she receives a micro-grant to continue with the skills she learned. She returns not only physically healed but also with confidence in her capacity to support herself. But, just as important is the community’s response to the woman when she returns and what they are trying to do to prevent sexual violence.
The Nehemiah Committees, as mentioned in part one, are community committees made up of 10 leaders from different religious denominations and tribes. HEAL Africa works with 70 committees who are charged with doing what they think is necessary to reduce sexual violence in their areas and direct those who have been violated to appropriate medical care. The Nehemiah Committee members bring this mandate into their respective faith communities and have open dialogue about attitudes and treatment towards women and what needs to change for the health of the community. They refer women to Safe Houses, and even care for women within their own homes and churches.
Enabling the community to be part of the healing and prevention process is the crucial element in fighting sexual violence. The effects of the violation of a woman ripple throughout the whole community and change will come slowly as more and more people like Charlotte Riziki and the members of the Nehemiah Committees come together in solidarity to protect women, the core of the society.
What You Can Do
-Find out more about how to support HEAL Africa’s work at www.healafrica.org
-Ask your representative to support House Resolution 1227 condemning sexual violence in DRC and calling on the international community to respond. Click here for the letter.
[Photo of Charlotte Riziki, HEAL Africa sexual violence counselor]
Deconstructing Sexual Violence in Congo
Published February 10, 2009 @ 06:01PM PT
The piece below was written by Harper McConnell, the US Director of Development for HEAL Africa. She spent two years in Goma, DRC, and is now based in Seattle.
The media coverage of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is awash with stories of horrific rape. Clearly, the core issue of sexual violence is not limited to Congo (it is estimated that one in four American college women have been raped), but the extent to which it has occurred in DRC is unprecedented. Rape in Congo is extensively portrayed as a weapon of war used to terrorize and cripple communities. It breaks apart traditional family structures, depresses the local economy as the fields lie fallow, and subjects the community to humiliation.
To attempt to understand this phenomenon is not to just look at individual perpetrators, but instead to examine the conditions created by collective interest groups that have produced an atmosphere ripe for sexual violence. To change these conditions is therefore to diminish sexual violence.
This three part series attempts to examine how peace, institutions, and infrastructure dictate the extent of sexual violence in DRC and how HEAL Africa, a locally based non-profit in Goma, battles this issue through social, economic, and medical initiatives.
Part 1: Peace
Joseph Ciza, a public health expert and head of HEAL Africa’s gender-based violence program, is a short, average looking man in his early 40s who walks with a limp. He has seen the worst atrocities possible in war, yet his demeanor is placid and his accomplishments are unbelievable given the circumstances he has passed through. He has orchestrated the medical treatment, counseling, and economic assistance of tens of thousands of women. He has even been invited by opposing rebel commanders to give talks to their troops on the repercussions of sexual violence and HIV AIDS.
Ciza can almost always pass through any armed front as HEAL Africa is a local non-governmental organization (NGO) with a neutral reputation. While in militia territory to evaluate the rural health centers HEAL Africa supervises and the Safe Houses that provide counseling and vocational training for women, he found they had both been looted. The HEAL Africa team conducted an assessment in order to bring back materials and medication.
Standing in the middle of the gutted health center, Ciza received a phone call from one of the 120 volunteer rape counselors he supervises. She herself was displaced and was working as a counselor in the refugee camp. The night before a militia group came and took all of her money and clothes. She said the counselors felt they had no protection and even the police fled in the presence of the militia. Ciza called a Nehemiah Committee member nearby the refugee camp to see what assistance he could give the counselors. HEAL Africa works through a network of 70 Nehemiah Committees in 70 different villages. Each committee is made up of 10 people representing different tribes and religious dominations who have been nominated by their communities. The committees are commissioned to look after the village’s most vulnerable populations, to pursue reconciliation through dialogue and community service, and to provide HEAL Africa with information.
The Nehemiah Committees identify women in their faith communities to receive HEAL Africa’s training to serve as counselors for sexual violence survivors. The counselors provide medical referrals to HEAL Africa and walk with the survivor through the healing process.
“The Nehemiah Committees and counselors prove it is possible for a Muslim and a Christian or for people from different tribes to work together for peace. They show their faith communities that we must care for those who are sick with HIV or who have been raped and not cast them out, ” Ciza said.
“We, the Congolese, must do this kind of reconciliation work on the ground and amongst ourselves. We are investing in peace by building relationships. But, we also realize that this conflict is much larger than Congo. Our land is very rich, but we are very poor. Why is this?”
The question is reflected to us, the consumers who benefit from Congo’s natural resources, such as coltan, which is found in all cell phones and laptops. Over 100 multi-national companies were named as illegally exploiting resources in DRC according to a 2002 UN Report on Congo's natural wealth. The report called upon the home countries of the corporations to take action, but any sort of action is yet to be seen. Without ethical, enforced systems of resource exploitation and ownership, Congo will continue to be tossed in the throes of armed groups backed by varying political and business interests, both in Africa and abroad.
To end the conflict is to reduce sexual violence. As consumers of Congo’s natural resources, we must ask ourselves, where is our responsibility? You can start here:
-Find out more about how to support HEAL Africa’s work at www.healafrica.org
-Ask your representative to support the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act. Click here for the letter.
-Ask your representative to support House Resolution 1227 condemning sexual violence in DRC and calling on the international community to respond. Click here for the letter.
Part two of this series is here, and part three is here.
[Photo from HEAL Africa]
