Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo
Mama Masika, who works in a counseling house that she founded in 2001, listens to Zabibu, 10 years old, in Minova, Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 29, 2008. While collecting potatoes three days earlier in Kalungu, Zabibu was raped by two members of the CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple/National Congress for the Defence of the People). Mama Masika founded the house in 2001 after she recovered from her own experience with rape. In 1998 a group of Tutsi soldiers entered her village during the Congolese civil war. They killed her husband and cut him into pieces. They ordered Mama Masika to make a bed with the pieces. She was forced to lie on it and 12 soldiers raped her. Her two daughters, 12 and 14 years old, were also raped in the next room. After these attacks she fainted and when she woke up she found herself in a hospital. She could not remember what had happened to her. Months later, her daughter gave birth, but could not remember how she had gotten pregnant. Nobody was telling her the truth, until someone from a women’s organization started talking to her and helped her to understand what happened. After 3 years of counseling, she had recovered somewhat and decided to open this house to help women who are victims of sexual violence. Since 2001, she has helped 5,875 women and has also taken care of children who were born as a result of rape.

Mama Masika, who works in a counseling house that she founded in 2001, listens to Zabibu, 10 years old, in Minova, Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 29, 2008. While collecting potatoes three days earlier in Kalungu, Zabibu was raped by two members of the CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple/National Congress for the Defence of the People).

Mama Masika founded the house in 2001 after she recovered from her own experience with rape. In 1998 a group of Tutsi soldiers entered her village during the Congolese civil war. They killed her husband and cut him into pieces. They ordered Mama Masika to make a bed with the pieces. She was forced to lie on it and 12 soldiers raped her. Her two daughters, 12 and 14 years old, were also raped in the next room.

After these attacks she fainted and when she woke up she found herself in a hospital. She could not remember what had happened to her.

Months later, her daughter gave birth, but could not remember how she had gotten pregnant.

Nobody was telling her the truth, until someone from a women’s organization started talking to her and helped her to understand what happened.

After 3 years of counseling, she had recovered somewhat and decided to open this house to help women who are victims of sexual violence. Since 2001, she has helped 5,875 women and has also taken care of children who were born as a result of rape.