We’ve included some information about the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo below – but please don’t read it and stop there. If you’re like us, you probably weren’t aware of the violence, rape and disease that continue to occur in DR Congo, so we encourage you to find out more. We know that it’s easy to tune these things out because you feel like you can’t do anything to help, but you can. Read on and we’ll show you how.
Robin Tabbiner and Wendy Merritt are from Wilmington, North Carolina, a beach town where life moves at a slower pace - a town where it's not uncommon to wear flip-flops to the office or leave work early with your surfboard in tow.
The women met in 2005, when Robin joined Wendy’s small group, a women’s bible study she lead through Port City Community Church. Robin, who had graduated from college the spring before, had been planning a move to Africa - she was just waiting for the right time and opportunity. Wendy was leading a very “normal” life – after college, she had settled down in Wilmington, bought a house and was working for a local mortgage brokerage firm; it had never crossed her mind to pick up and move halfway around the world.
Over time, it became clear to both women that their paths had crossed for a reason; within one year of meeting each other, they would move to the Democratic Republic of Congo to serve women and girls victimized by sexual violence. Through an organization called Answering the Call, Robin and Wendy were connected with a pastor in eastern Congo. Upon entering the Congo in August 2006, they rented a house and began building relationships with rape victims, serving children at two feeding centers and organizing events for local youth.
Once we learned of their plans to move to a country that our own State Department warns us to stay away from, we knew we had to tell their story. For three months before Robin and Wendy left for Congo, we spent time interviewing them, as well as their families and friends; they left the country armed with a video camera and plenty of tapes to document their experience, hopeful that their story and the stories of the Congolese women and children they went to serve would move us to get involved. Here’s how you can.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has endured a turbulent and violent history of colonial rule, extremist dictators, brutal militias and continued political instability.
Colonized by Belgium in the 1870’s, the country was prostituted for its natural resources and its people were terrorized, exploited and afflicted with disease. The country won its independence in 1960, only to suffer political unrest followed by nearly thirty years of corruption and extortion at the hands of Mobutu Sésé Seko. Mobutu renamed the country, calling it the “Republic of Zaire.”
Mobutu was overthrown in 1997 by forces led by Lauret-Désiré Kabila with assistance from Rwanda, Uganda and Angola, in what would become known as the First Congo War. In 1998, when Kabila demanded that all Rwandan and Ugandan military leave the country, which he had since renamed the “Democratic Republic of Congo,” the Second Congo War began. What would follow is five years of bloodshed and tragedy, in which 3.8 million people lost their lives, either from violence, starvation or disease.
Although this war technically ended in 2003 and democratic elections took place in 2006, the violence has not ended in DR Congo. Militia groups, including the Interahamwe, one of the groups responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, continue to roam throughout the country, terrorizing villages, murdering families and raping women and girls.
In America, we think of rape as a tragic violation of a woman that results in emotional scars that can take a lifetime to heal. Rape in the DRC is more than a violation of a woman’s body and spirit, it’s a weapon used to destroy a culture. Militia groups use this weapon to terrorize the Congolese people, attacking villages and raping women and girls from age 2 to 80, often while their families are forced to watch. These militias have kidnapped thousands of women and forced them into sexual slavery, which typically results in months of gang rape and sexual torture. As if the trauma of rape wasn’t enough, many women are mutilated so severely that surgery is their only option for survival. In the eastern region of DR Congo, rape has become so brutal and rampant that one hospital in the region of Panzi sees over 2,500 women a year for reconstructive surgery.
In the Congolese culture, it’s common for victims of rape to be divorced from their husbands, disowned from their families or shunned from their villages, as rape has made them “unclean.” As a result, these women have no way of supporting themselves or their children and have no other choice but to live in the streets, begging for food and money.
Although their stories are tragic and seem hopeless, there is a way you can help – click here.