Women for Women International
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The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo kills as many people as September 11 did every 2.5 days—more than 5 million in total, and nearly half of them are younger than five years old. Some of the deaths occur directly because of violence, but most of them are indirect results of the displacement, disease, and malnutrition caused by the ongoing conflict.
Often referred to as Africa's World War, it has involved up to eight countries, about 25 armed groups, and there's a mess of resources—diamonds, gold, coltan, tin, the list goes on—under Congolese soil that complicate the ties of loyalty and the struggle for power.
The Run for Congo Women has been working to raise awareness and funds in the U.S. to support Congolese women. The group explains:
Civilians are left to fend for themselves against brutal attacks, torture, looting, rape and murder, as well as deprivation of the most basic conditions necessary for life. Women in the Congo carry the heaviest of burdens. They have been gang raped. Tortured. Watched their husbands and children murdered in front of them. Forced to flee their homes. Many have watched two, four, even seven children die from preventable illnesses.
What we can do
Some people in the U.S. are surprised to learn how connected our lives are to this violence. The resources that help to fuel the war are things that we use everyday: coltan is in just about all of our electronics, as are tin and tantalum, and the way the international mineral trade is currently set up, there's little or no way to be certain where minerals were sourced, or how. Mineral supplies are all kind of pooled together before they get bought by the companies that will ultimately use them, and the role of the middleman makes it easy to disconnect the buyer from the violence at the source. So the search for "conflict-free" minerals is a great idea, but right now hard to implement. Which is what the two conflict-free minerals bills currently in Congress seek to address. You can contact your Senators and Representatives to express your support for this legislation.
Taking more immediate action, Oregon resident Lisa Shannon came up with the idea to organize a fundraising run for Congo after first learning about the war while sitting at home watching Oprah in 2005. The movement has since raised half a million dollars to sponsor Congolese women through the organization Women for Women International.
Upcoming running events are now being organized around the country and it's spreading to Europe, so find an event near you and start raising funds and bringing attention to the women of Congo today.
Related Posts:
Conflict Minerals: Speak Up About Congo With Your Congressmen
In Overtime, Bill Maher Asks: "Is the Blood Diamond Thing Over In the Congo?"
Major Electronics Manfacturers Ignoring Their Role in DRC Conflict Mineral Mining
