Repairing the Scars of Conflict
At a women’s center backed by ActionAid on the outskirts of Bukavu, South Kivu’s capital city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 33-year-old mother of four, Janet Mapendo sits pensively as she learns how to sew clothes.
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“I came here to learn tailoring skills so I can raise rent and fees to take my children to school and begin to offer services to the community,” she says.
“Staying here also helps me to deal with bitter memories of the past that have refused to go away.”
As Janet limps from one table to another, Mama Solange the coordinator of the center whispers, “This woman, cried every now and then the first day she came in March. Although she still cries, she is a lot better.”
ActionAid and its partner INFRADE equip widows and women with disabilities in the DRC with the skills and confidence to persevere in a country rife with violence.
In 2005, a group of women came together wanting to help other women escape the conflict – often without their property or husbands. With ActionAid and INFRADE’s assistance, their goal was achieved.
“We came together to restore our hope as women after we realized the physical abuse was eating into our hope, confidence and esteem,” Mama Solange said.
“We started by contributing a dollar a month to help our wounded friends from the villages,” she added.
Humanitarian and human rights laws have been violated by the militia forces, causing hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes in the DRC and seek refuge. The protracted conflict has caused extreme suffering for civilians, with estimates of millions of people dead.
Almost every person living in the DRC has been affected by the armed conflict one way or another; whether they have been targets of violence or touched by conflict-related issues such as disease and famine.
All Janet’s property, for example, was taken and her in-laws sold the farm and moved to another town leaving her to take care of her children after her husband was killed by the militias in 2005.
“They came at night and forcefully entered our house after we refused to open,” she says. “All eight of them, wanted to rape me, one by one as my husband watched. I was two months pregnant.”
“When I saw my husband’s body drenched in blood I resisted the third soldier from raping me. He shot and blew off my right leg.”
When Janet left the hospital a year later with an artificial leg, she came to Bukavu where the threat of attack by militias was minimal.
Janet’s story is devastating, but not unique.
When DRC refuges join ActionAid and INFRADE’s group, they learn skills such as sewing.
Today, Janet can make and cut designs. She can also speak openly about her conflict-related experiences.
As she wades through life’s new challenges without a leg, a husband and means of earning a livelihood, she said she has realized it is her heart that needs the greatest healing.
“Once every week we meet with Mama Solange just to discuss the issues we face and how we can live life once again,” Janet said.
