I NEED TO FIND MY PASSPORT, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO NYC IN LESS THAN A MONTH & NEED IT!!
urgh urgh urgh...
Something's been on my mind a lot. Last Thursday, I attended a Congo teach-in info session on violence against women in the Congo.
It broke my heart.
The closest thing I've experienced to gender-related assault is having my Hallowe'en candy stolen from me when I was 12.
Comparatively, many, many women in the Congo have FISTULAS from being brutally raped USING WEAPONS as a tool of WAR. it leaves them unable to control their bladder & continuously leaking urine.
I thank God tonight, that I don't have a fistula.
The more I progress through life as a woman,
the more I realize,
I AM SO F*ING FORTUNATE.
TO HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED
RAPE.
here's a quick quote from a survivor in the DRC:
Towards midnight, I heard the crackle of gunfire all around the village…As I was trying to escape with my children, seven soldiers broke down the door to my house, threw me down to the ground
and raped me. I lost consciousness till the next day...When I walk I have to hold my abdomen with my skirt, because it hurts so much. I cannot walk very far now and as the soldiers took everything, I can hardly manage to look after my children.
click here for more info on sexual violence in the DRC: http://newsite.vday.org/drcongo/background
“Who
knows more about oppression? Those who teach it or those who live it?” -sakamoto & pitner [what the bleep do i know?]
For the past two months, a small group of folks (the executive leadership team of my school’s chapter of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship) including myself have been toiling over organizing an awareness campaign on human trafficking; sex slavery and bonded labour slavery. It’s been a lot of fun, and there’s been tears, feelings of discomfort, laughs, and a lot of texting each other to remind one another of what we said we’d be responsible for.
Next week, our two day event takes place, two days set up in an area near our university’s cafeteria, ending with a speaker coming from International Justice Mission at night on how bystanders have an obligation to stop human rights violations. This speaker very conveniently happens to be closely related to me.
We are all really excited, and I’m using this lead up time to re-examine my intentions and just pray a lot. I find myself rolling over in bed, petitioning God, asking that people’s heart will be open, and softened to fellow humans caught in slavery. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the end.
I find it easy to want to put myself on a pedestal since I’m organizing something of substance, instead of organizing a party, or something. But that’s not the point, and those intentions are despicable. I hope they completely disappear.
I’ve become a vegan for two weeks, it’s an experiment, and I’m having fun. I’m missing cheese, for sure, though.
I’ve been listening to this album a lot,
I’m reading this book,
and I’ve been watching this film more than once.
