Saturday night as I was wrapping up my work, I stopped to check my twitter feed. As I opened my favorite twitter client I saw at the top of the list a tweet from Nicholas Kristof. If you don’t know who Nicholas is, he is one of the few international journalists today that is championing the cause of the Congolese people in his writings and work. He is a voice laboring to fill the knowledge gap of the uninformed about the terrible things facing the DR Congo. I had started following Kirstof on twitter after I saw that he was the subject of the Ben Affleck produced film on the DR Congo called “The Reporter” last year.

His tweet said: “The World Capital of Killing, Congo, and a heroic doctor and patient there: my Sun column, http://nyti.ms/aIutFe“

So I clicked…

A FAMILIAR FACE

As Kristof’s NYT article began to load, I noticed it was about Panzi Hospital.  He had interviewed a rape survivor named Jeanne Mukuninwa along with Dr. Denis Mukwege, the doctor working to help put her life back together. The story was similar to what we saw in Episode 7 of the podcast. But, as I looked at the picture of the woman at the top of Kristof’s article, something seemed familiar. Was she one of the women we interviewed at the Panzi hospital in 2007? But what would she still be doing there 3 years later? Maybe it wasn’t her? She looked a bit happier. Her hair was done, it had been straightened.  She was different, more put together.  I knew that in Episode 8 of our video podcast we had shown part of an interview we shot at the Panzi Hospital with a woman we thought was named Jan. But could this be her?

Jeanne Mukuninwa in Kristof's 2010 Interview

So I went back to the original interview we had shot. I scrubbed the clips and found the one where our translator asked the young woman’s name. Sure enough, she stated it was Jeanne Mukuninwa (I had mis-spelled the name as my french is bad).

Jeanne in our 2007 Interview for the Congocast.org Podcast

If you read the New York Times article by Kristof, you will notice two things about Jeanne that have happened over time.  1) She looks like she is doing better than she was in our interview in 2007.  2) She is back at Panzi hospital because she was raped again after she returned to her village.

Nothing makes me more angry than that last statement.  How could that happen–again?

ALIVE AS COMPARED TO LIVING

As exciting as it was to see that she appeared to be doing better, I am reminded that this conflict is seemingly far from over.  Many of these women, once their surgeries are complete, return to their villages only to be raped again.  It is unsafe.  And yet, they go back.  Why?  Because their families are there.  Their lives are there.  They grew up there.  So they return – only to revisit the horrors they had escaped by coming to Panzi.

I know I’ve said it over and over again, but you can help.

• PRAY: Pray for this conflict to end.  The evil perpetrating this madness is more than a group of men. Maybe you don’t pray…
• DONATE: Find a charity that is making a difference and give what you can (Some are listed under our links here).  But maybe you don’t have any money…
• EDUCATE: Yourself, your family, your friends, your facebook buddies & your twitter followers – you don’t have an excuse to not update your status and tell people what is happening.

If you would like to find out more ways you can get involved – visit http://www.enoughproject.org.  They are an incredible resource on activism and can provide a great way for you to learn more about how you can make a difference and educate yourself on the issues.

Hearing what has happened to Jeanne in this article was devastating.  It could inspire a sense of hopelessness.  But I don’t think that is what the Congolese people would want from you or me.  It was a huge encouragement to see her face again.  To see that she is still alive.  To see that her hair is straitened and cut.  That is a simple thing, but is speaks to me that she is not just alive but she is living.  Could I do the same in the face of such obstacles?  Could you?

Jeanne’s story, past and present, reminds me that the spirit of the Congolese people is strong.

It reminds me that many of these rape victims are not just alive,

They are living.

They are fighters.

And that the living are worth fighting for.

But recently a friend shared this article with me by an atheist that offered an interesting perspective on the role of missions in a war torn Africa:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

Food for thought…

We began editing this project about 2 years ago – and a team of people* have helped us comb through a total of over 150 hours of footage to help get us to this point. You might wonder how does one boil down 150 hours of footage. A Giant Cork Board is how:

Every episode since around EP 8 has been laid out on this cork board (the stacks for each past episode are on the left side of the board). This may be an crazy way to do things, but it’s the only way that I could stay sane while trying to figure out how to distill that many story arcs into some kind of engaging narrative. Our goal has always been to tell the story of Robin and Wendy while weaving their journey together with the needs that are present in the DRC every day.

I hope that this little picture reminds us all of just how large this story is. There are so many different lives represented on this board. Some stories are happy and uplifting while others are hard to hear and even harder to share. But at the end of the day – each one of those cards on that board represents a moment in time – a moment in someones life – a moment in this story that hopes to engage you in the cause of helping end this conflict in the DRC.

I hope that you are able to take just one moment from this podcast – just one of these cards – and share it with the people you know. Take the card and the little story that it represents, the story that has impacted you, and pass it along as we try and work together to help bring an end to what is happening in the DRC.

*The previously mentioned team of people are a major part of what has made this project possible! Thank you so much Parrish, Joey, Luke, Matt, Caroline, Kellie, Jessica, and Hillary!

REWIND ONE YEAR… I got to go to the DR Congo last summer while Robin and Wendy were still there.  Our goal was to film some of the footage that you see in the podcast, helping them fill in the blanks in the videos they had shot.  As you’ve seen – R&W had been working with women living in the area of Panzi parish who had been raped – and had brought some of these women to a house they had rented to give them and their families food and shelter.

We slated one of the days I was there to visit with some of these women, hoping to help Robin document their stories.  So we set up our camera, we hooked up our microphones and got out our pads of paper.  Each woman sat down in front of the camera prepared to tell us about her life.  We began with “What’s your name?  How many children do you have?  What was life like before the war?”  All of these seemed like simple questions – nothing out of the ordinary.

But then came the most horrible of questions.  It seemed as mundane as the prior – but wasn’t as easy to ask.  “Can you tell us your story?”  The pit of my stomach would drop.  As we interviewed the woman, one after another, I felt like I was asking them to re-live the most traumatizing events that had shaped their lives.  Behind their eyes you could see it unfold.  Some of them had detached from the events – but as they would see the details in their minds – the walls they had placed around the memories would be chipped away.  I felt sick.

It was like when someone says, “What if these walls could talk?”  As I looked in to their eyes – I thought of all the things that those eyes had witnessed.  It was hard to look into these “windows to the soul” – these eyes were now our lens to the past – revealing the most depraved of deeds.  I detached from it.  The drain of hearing the horrible things happening in the DRC had gotten to me.  I like you – had listened to the stories of the women of the Congo – but with each one I seemed to close off a small portion of my heart to the words I would hear – hoping that the nagging feeling of rage mixed with helplessness would somehow not haunt me again as I opened my ears with each interview.  I put up my wall.

ONE YEAR LATER… I sat watching these interviews again, seeing the past unfold through the looking glass of these women’s words.  I even delayed editing the episode – I didn’t want to hear any more stories.  I didn’t want to be angry.  I didn’t want to wonder all over again what I could do.

But as I watched the stories again – something new jumped out.  It was the mundane.  The ordinary.  I couldn’t detach from them now.  It was their stories of life before the war that started to chip away at my bricks.  Jeorgette was married in a church – just like me.  Vumilia had had a business, her husband was a merchant.  Joni was a pastor’s wife.  Faida’s husband had worked for a company as the local manager.   They sounded like my friends, my family.. like me.

If you watch this podcast – you have heard the stories of rape in the Congo.  With each one – a part of you places up the same walls that these women had to place around their own stories to help them move on.  But as I sat I across from them that day in the DRC – they were willing to break down some of those walls – so that we would know what had happened to them the day the rebels came to steal their lives away.

As I edited this episode – I realized that my life wasn’t that far removed from theirs.  I saw again why I was doing this.  I had been given an incredible gift in their story.  They had entrusted me with something very precious.  It isn’t just a story of rape.  It is a story about husbands and wives.  Of people who had jobs, and children, and families – that ended – but are now being re-built.  They told me about their lives, their faith, their hopes – and I am helping them tell it to you.  You have been given their story now.

Don’t let the hopelessness that settles in and tells you that you can’t make a difference deceive you in to thinking that you can’t help.

PRAY for these women if you pray.

GIVE to help the “have nots” if you have.

SHARE the stories of these women if you can speak.

Don’t let the walls get to high.  As I watched Robin tell me about her experience with these women – I remembered why I do this.  These women have a story that began long before they were raped… and a life that CONTINUES in the face of all that tried to end it.  We have an opportunity to help by being the arbiters of a narrative that is far bigger than us.

So steward it well.

Evan

WAYS TO HELP:

Julie Project (Shelter for Rape Victims in Congo)
Pray (Maombi Mission)
Share (Check out our new stories page for unedited interviews with the women of Panzi Parish)

This podcast exists to bring awareness of the situation in the DRC in an effort to bring about positive change for the country – we’re working hard to be a voice for the Congolese and stir people to action but we DESPERATELY need your help! The more people that watch Congocast, the more awareness we can generate and ultimately, the more funds we can raise for the Julie Project. Here are a few, seriously simple things you can do to help:

• Mention us on your blog/MySpace/Facebook page –send out a note to your friends, become a fan of Congocast on Facebook or our friend on Myspace.
• Copy and paste this into an email and pass it along to your friends and family:

Hey everyone! I just learned about this amazing story and wanted to share it with you – it touched my heart, and I hope it touches yours too. In the summer of 2006, two American women left home to live and serve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an African country oppressed by war and ravaged by violence against women and girls. They experienced some pretty incredible stuff and you can actually watch their story unfold online visit http://www.congocast.org to learn more.

Thanks again for supporting this crazy thing that we’re doing. We really appreciate all of you taking the time to watch the episodes and pass the story along to others. We couldn’’t do this without you!

WHEN: This Saturday, May 3rd @ 7pm – 8:30pm
WHERE: Studio 3 (Behind McAlister’s Deli in Wilmington, NC)
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/6fmrkm
WHAT: Music w/ Matt Blair, Pastor Desire from DR Congo, and Closing Prayer Time for Maombi Mission

Our week of prayer for the DR Congo is coming to a close this Saturday. However, we will be ending the week a little different from our last time! Pastor Desire (from Congocast EP 7 & 8) will be in Wilmington, NC on the night of Saturday, May 3rd to close our week of prayer together with us. We will be having a time of music with Matt Blair and Pastor Desire will share some of his experiences in the DR Congo, after which we will have a time of prayer for Congo to close the end of the Maombi Mission week together.

We hope that if you are in the Wilmington area, you will join us as we share a moment with Pastor Desire and hear his heart for his people as we pray together with him for his country.

Please continue to pass the stories of the Congocast along to your friends and family – we appreciate your support!

MAOMBI MISSION – Many of you have already signed up for the Maombi Mission.  There may only be 5 days left, but you can still sign up for a prayer time.  So go and visit http://www.congocast.org/maombimission to learn more now!

Tune back in later this week as we start off 2008 with Episode 9 of the Congocast…

1) get people to pray for the situation in DR Congo and its people

2) raise the awareness of the American community of the crisis in the DRC by sharing about it with everyone we know

3) and help get the Julie Project finished – a crisis center for rape victims in Bukav

This episode ( No. 8 ) tries to get across the great importance of these three things. The last two episodes have been incredibly hard to put together. Because there is so much that can be said about what is happening in the DRC, it is hard to know what stories need to be told. I hope that all of us see a part of ourselves in the faces of each of these women in episode 8. There are inumerable ways that you can help them, and the Julie Project is just one way you can get involved

If you want to find out more about this project or support it – you can click here to visit our page about the Julie Project or visit www.answeringthecall.org, the website for the organization that began this tremendously important project

Take up the challenge and find a way that you can help–whether is is through this project or somewhere else. You now know the story, and you have the opportunity to do something about it.