War Against Women in the Congo

Pray for the integrity of the government; for were it not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbor alive.
Rabbi Chanina in "Ethics of the Fathers," The Babylonian Talmud

Did you know that millions of people have been killed as a result of war in the Congo in the last several years? Did you know that one of the primary "tactics" of this war is rape? I guess it's easy to ignore atrocities in faraway Africa, especially since any natural resources which they may have had to offer Americans were long-ago pillaged during the "colonial" period. But the victims of lawless, government-less brutality are real people--and they're predominantly women.

This segment of CBS's 60 Minutes, from August 19, describes what's going on there in no uncertain terms. Warning: it'll curdle your blood. The Panzi Hospital in Eastern Congo, which is featured in the story, is a recipient of funds from The Fistula Foundation (on which I serve as a Board member). The organization is devoted to mending childbirth injuries in women, usually resulting from a delivery gone wrong. However in the Congo, these same injuries often result from unbridled violence against women.