Voices of the Voiceless - NOHA Alumni Community

12 ...C’neCt - 16 th Edition / July 2013
Violence changes
our lives, not our spirit
Th
e Democratic Republic
of Congo is currently
the poster child for the
helpless female victims of war.
One does not have to look far to
learn about the unimaginable
things women, and men, are enduring
on a daily basis in many
areas of the DRC. What we are
not hearing about is how women
have fought to be a part of the
peace talks, to be a part of the
government, and to be a respected
part of society with an
equal voice. As usual, these women
are not doing it by force, by
taking up arms and causing more
grief.
Co
ngolese women have
began to form selfhelp
groups in the early 2000s in
churches to provide support networks
for each other and lay the
foundation of a more cohesive
civil society. Congolese women
went from having zero female
representatives at the 1999 peace
talks to filling 10 percent of the
seats in a 2002 Inter-Congolese
Dialogue aimed at post-war reconciliation
and national, social
and political stability. Later in
2003, Article 51 was added to the
transitional constitution to ensure
women’s participation in the transition.
During a referendum in
2005, 51 percent of the electorate
was female.
Women have fought to
be a part of the peace
talks, to be a part of
the government, and to
be a respected part of
society with an equal
voice.
Al
though war has since
then returned to Eastern
Congo, women continue to do
their part. Different women associations
exist - some have political
or economical motivations,
others support ways for Congolese
women to have meetings
and face their day-to-day challenges.
In the east of DRC there
are several committed groups that
work in the grassroot level.
AF
EM-SK is a non-profit
organization created
under Congolose law in 2003,
whose members are composed of
women active in South Kivu's media
and news organization. AFEM-
SK specializes in the production of
rural and urban radio shows with a
major focus on women, drawing
on radio clubs and local activists as
a base; this organization also produces
news reports from the field
and sends news back to local radio
stations. South Kivu Women's
Media Association's overall objective
is to promote peace through
the media by the following specific
objectives: work for women's and
Congolese women's advancement
through available media outlets;
Congolese women have
began to form self-help
groups in the early
2000s in churches to
provide support networks
for each other
and lay the foundation
of a more cohesive civil
society.
“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.” ― Robert A. Heinlein