Congo

Today I went for a brief walk while Dawn was teaching. As I came to a crossroad, I met up with a group of eight women. Some of them had children on their backs. Others were pregnant. They all looked thin and quite poor. One woman began talking to me in Swahili.

I indicated I didn’t understand. This didn’t deter the woman. She spoke with animation and acted out a story. From what I could understand, she was pointing to one of the women who was pregnant and indicated a soldier had raped her. Would I please give her money?

After I received this request, said no, and gone into the church where the seminar is, I sat down. I am shaken. If this story was true – and we’ve been hearing so many like it – I want with all my heart to help. If the story was not true…even then these women were clearly not doing well.

Over lunch we talked with our Congolese hosts about the soldiers here in Congo. I asked if the average Congolese believed that all Congo soldiers were bad. The answer was yes. I asked if soldiers were ever paid. No, they aren’t paid. Are they fed? No, not nearly enough. It struck me then that every soldier I have seen was very thin.

As we were driving back from lunch, our hosts pointed to a building on the corner where we turned. They indicated that this was where some soldier’s families lived. The place was very run down. The children were exceptionally dirty and didn’t look healthy.

I asked our hosts if soldiers are ostracized, are their families as well? They said yes and that these families live in extreme poverty because their husbands are away most of the time, and working at a job that doesn’t pay. Our hosts told us that when Congolese see how poor these families are, they do not think it is right that the government does not pay the soldiers.

When we were done our seminar for today and were driving back to our room, we again passed the place where these families live. I was surprised when I saw the same group of eight women from earlier that day sitting there. They were soldier’s wives. I thought about the story I’d been told by them – that a soldier had raped one of them. I realized that because families or husbands often disown their raped daughters/wives, this woman might have chosen to live with the man who raped her. The only other choice she may have had is death.

I am overwhelmed. God help the families of these soldiers.