United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
Abou Mouhilou Seidou
20 November 2007
The fight against sexual violence and HIV/ Aids was part of a public awareness campaign carried out from 12-17 November 2007 in the mining city of Kalima, located 100 km from Kindu, by MONUC Kindu's Public Information division and the NGO AHUPADE (Humanitarian action for peace and the development).
Saturday November 17. At the same time as our convoy left Kalima, a police officer rapes a woman in a cell. This crime, which has become too banal today, created the need for the public awareness campaign on sexual violence and HIV/Aids to be carried out in the area.
The objective of the campaign was to sensitize the population of Kalima on this plague which ruins the lives of a large majority of women in the area. Ten people worked in the field to help to reinforce capacities and information on the relative issues related to sexual violence and abuse, through meeting the local population, especially women, the main victims of sexual violence.
Localities on Kalima's three main routes were visited, namely the Mabikwa institutes and Mukwale and the Kalima centers of Kingungwa, Kakaleka and Kakutya. In the schools, markets, churches, health centres and other places, the population was receptive to the information.
Everywhere, there was some discussion on initially informing the population on sexual violence, and of the consequences. In an area with high illiteracy, it was essential to clarify these aspects in order to avoid any ambiguity.
The consequences of these acts - physical, psychological and social - on the women were also discussed. In a country where sexual abuse victims are in the large majority of cases stigmatized and even rejected by the husband, the work consisted in convincing local opinion to give up this practice, because the woman is often only one innocent victim, needing as much care and affection as possible to overcome the trauma of rape.
The physical consequences are often serious and poorly understood by the population, such as undesired pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV / Aids.
The population often views fistula and other sexual infections such as prolapsus and cancer of the cervix as diseases of supernatural origin. They have difficulty understanding that these medical conditions cannot be treated by traditional medicine. The result is that, for lack of special care, the large majority of afflicted women die.
Many girl victims of sexual violence, if they do not have sexually transmitted infections of HIV/ Aids, find themselves with undesired pregnancies which force them to give up school at an early age.
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