I went to watch a documentary called The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo as part of the Calgary Justice Film Festival. It’s telling, it’s overwhelming, it’s uncomfortable, yes.  But it needs to be said.  I need to know about it rather than being conveniently ignorant to its reality.

Since the late 90’s, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has experienced a political upheaval spurring on civil wars which have taken the lives of over 4 million people– making it the deadliest conflict since WWII.  In the midst of this, rape and sexual violence against women and children have skyrocketed to unimaginable rates as it has become a dominate weapon of war.

Winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize in Documentary and the inspiration for a 2008 U.N. Resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war, this extraordinary film, shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shatters the silence that surrounds the use of sexual violence as a weapon of conflict. Many tens of thousands of women and girls have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army.

A survivor of gang rape herself, Emmy Award®-winning filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson travels through the DRC to understand what is happening and why…this film features interviews with activists, peacekeepers, physicians, and even—chillingly—the indifferent rapists who are soldiers of the Congolese Army. Harrowing moments of the film come as dozens of survivors recount their stories with an honesty and immediacy that is pulverizing in its intimacy and detail, but this powerful film also provides inspiring examples of resiliency, resistance, courage and grace.

How do i even identify with stories like these?  How do i ask God for the restoration of lives without being trite about it?  What words can be said to petition for powerful redemptive work on behalf of these people and this nation?  I don’t know.  I don’t understand.

But I’m grateful for Lisa F. Jackson’s work.  I encourage people to do a simple google search of the DRC and become more aware of the situation there.

So, what can be done? How can I help? How do I respond?

- The film’s website is quite good and extensive, especially in suggestions on actions to take.   Become more educated and aware via their Reading List.  I found this list of various organizations who are helping to be extremely helpful; you can donate to many of them.

- Amnesty International on the DRC

There is a bright glimmer of hope and healing that Jackson especially highlights in her documentary about the work of a small hospital.  Hundreds of women receive surgeries to repair such things as vaginal mutilation, the destruction of the bladder, rectum, intestines, and so forth.  Their website greatly encouraged me: Panzi Hospital of Bukavu.