OTTAWA—Rampant sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was the sobering topic of a conference held Saturday morning at the Bronson Centre in Ottawa.
“We’ve invited you to a very serious morning—not an easy morning,” said organizer Daniel Stringer as he opened the conference, called Breaking the Silence on Sexual Violence in the Congo.
“Groups working for peace need to be credible, transparent, and brave such as Kairos Canada,” he added. Kairos is an ecumenical group that supports grassroots changes rather than bringing humanitarian aid. It works with NGOs in the country to educate people and carry out the projects.
Reverend Oscar Boloko, a Congolese now living in Canada, talked about wanting to give back to his home country.
“The good news is that Congo is a land blessed with so many resources—that’s the good news. But governing or sharing the resources with the people becomes another problem. That is why we say we have to look for a way forward,” he said.
Boloko further explained that the problems in the Congo started in 1994 when bordering country Rwanda was undergoing a genocide. When Rwandans escaped to the Congo they didn’t want to return to their home country because they saw the natural resources in the DRC.
Canada has given $18 million to the Congo in financial aid, but Boloko wants our government to do more.
“Our government can cut all financial aid, like the United States, to Rwanda. United States has done that, Germany and Netherlands have done that, but we in Canada have never done that.”
‘Psychological Silence’
As a Congolese women’s rights activist, speaker Andrea Boweya has interviewed many women who have been gang-raped and left for dead.
“Breaking the silence is such an appropriate focus today, for in fact, the act of rape is driven not only by cultural, societal, and of global silence, but by the reality of psychological silence for both women and men,” said Boweya.
“The women are silenced by the intense psychological effects of shock, disbelief, shame, and feelings of powerlessness. The intensity of internal noise compared to the lack of relevant support and resources forces her to be silent.”
