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It’s a war in the war that devastates the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998. A war against women, a war against young girls and old women. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 10,000 women and girls have been raped by the fighters between 1998 and 2002, official date of the conflict end.
Rape was used as a weapon in a systematic way by all the sides. Soldiers of several militia looted villages and raped the local woman and young girls to terrorize and subjugate the population. Today, the former warlords are sharing the power in Kinshasa and the armed conflict has cooled down. But in the Kivu district, the soldiers did not change their habits: women are daily victims of rape by militia or policemen with impunity. According to the U.S. Institute for Peace, more than 60 percent of the fighters are HIV-positive and many of their victims are now contaminated as well as the children born from the rape.
In addition to this trauma, the rape’s victims are considered as soil and are rejected by the society, outcasted by their husbands and families. In this way, those women have to survive alone with their children. To help these women, a young Congolese girl, Marie-Donatienne has created the association "MAODE." (Which means: Mummy Organized for the development at the East Congo). Thanks to the subscription of about thirty members (3 dollars per month) the association rents 2 houses in a Goma’s shantytown to accommodate the women who were rejected by their family after a rape. MAODE also provides credit to help the women to organize small businesses and pay the school fees for the children. But Maode’s first help is more psychological. The association form support groups where new victims can speak with other raped women to stop their feeling of being guilty. During their meeting, one after the other, all the women relate the day when their live became a nightmare. The words often come slowly, spaced by long silences.
Some men are also members of the association. They are the rare husbands who did not outcaste their wives. Now they are trying to convince the other husbands to do the same. Maode’s women allowed me to hear their stories and be photographed. This work testifies of their trauma and their feeling of unfairness to be considered guilty by their society.
Thomas Hofnung - Libération
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