A week-long rape and violence awareness effort came to a close in Meacham Auditorium Tuesday night with a film screening and lecture.
“A Night for the Women of the Congo” was organized to show the extent of rape and violence against women in the Congo, said Rachel Craddock, letters and political science senior. Congolese art representing the women’s plight lined the South Oval for five days.
The Congo is considered one of the most dangerous places for women and girls on the planet, with hundreds of thousands of rape victims since civil wars began in the 1990s.
Craddock said rape and violence at least partially results from a conflict over minerals mined in Africa, used in electronics around the world.
“The fighting over mineral resources affects us because we also demand these resources, and the issue of rape is everywhere, especially in the United States,” she said.
Craddock said rape is systematically used as a war tactic in the Congo. The country is so unstable that rape will continue to affect women unless it is criminalized.
“We aren’t meaning for people to just learn and acknowledge that this is happening, but we want people to leave with a desire to do something about it,” Craddock said.
Members of sponsoring organizations stood on the South Oval throughout the week to hand out flyers explaining ways to help.
At the event Tuesday night, Zermarie Deacon, assistant professor in the department of Human Relations, lectured about the situation and introduced a documentary screening addressing rape in the Congo.
Attendees were encouraged to buy T-shirts and bags made by Congolese survivors, write political leaders, sponsor a Congolese woman or donate to the campaign.
“There were definitely people here who did not know about women in the Congo and it will spark interest and hopefully encourage them to join organizations so that they can become active,” said Anna Yeom, college of arts and sciences senior.
Keely Adams, college of arts and sciences junior, said she learned about rape as a war tactic in a class and wanted to learn more about the issue.
Craddock said she hopes the event spanned the discourse of rape throughout the world, not just in the Congo, and sparked interest in attendees to get involved in the issue.
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mkilolo 3 years, 2 months ago
The things that happening in Africa are what would be a sin to be ignored. The world needs to know, listen to the cry of poor crying women that are and watch their daughters raped in Congo, that die and watch their children die of hunger in Kenya, and that live in hopelessness in Darfur Sudan. We should, all of us, tell and act to make the world a better place for our sisters and mothers. Congrats to Rachel Cradock for burning brighter this candle.God bless
Moses Kilolo