Women in danger in the Congo - CNN

A new study finds startling numbers of women are victims of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

But published after this story and the study that they reference, was an article by BBC News:

DR Congo rape study "questionable" 

A new study on rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo is based on out-of-date and questionable figures, a Swedish academic has told the BBC.

It concluded that 48 women and girls are raped every hour in DR Congo.

But Maria Eriksson Baaz says it is difficult to collect reliable data in DR Congo and women sometimes claim to be victims to get free health care.

She also questioned the links made between rising rape elsewhere in DR Congo and the conflict in the east.

Sexual violence has long been a dominant feature of the continuing unrest there.

The rape study was published last week in the American Journal of Public Health and found that 400,000 females aged 15-49 were raped over a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007.

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The entire BBC News article can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13448513

So what is the truth?

Are there women who are being taken advantage of by men in their country? - Yes
Is rape a problem in the DR Congo? - Yes

Isn't that is why institutions such as Congo Initiative and UCBC exist... To raise awareness of what's happening in the country? Yes. But also to offer healing, hope, welcoming and safety in a community of people and a new future to women who have suffered through some of the worst things imaginable.

Change.
It's not just about raising awareness of something terrible that happens too often to too many women, young and old. It's about gaining the tools necessary to combat ignorance, intolerance, hatred and bitterness, and to attain reconciliation. It's about not getting to the point where one joins the endless cycle of abuse that Congo seems trapped into repeating. Learning how to handle situations differently in the future.

The question remains, what do we do now? That is something that our students wrestle with as well.

UCBC offers quality professors, teachers, leadership, vision and education to men and women in eastern DR Congo. Maybe together with students, teachers and community leaders, we can challenge and change the system that is destroying the future of Congo's people.