Last week I traveled to Bukavu in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where the third annual World March of Women is taking place now through Monday, October 18th. I had hoped to be able to share video from the march and a training I’m conducting here but Internet access and electricity has been sporadic, thus making video uploads impossible. In the meantime, I’ll share updates via text and, whenever possible, images from the exciting events here. If any of you have ideas for a work around for this issue- please let us a note in the comments below!
This past Tuesday I conducted an all-day training with 13 local women’s rights organizations from throughout the Eastern DRC. These organizations are members of the network Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, our new partner on a campaign to end gender-based violence against women in armed conflict and politically repressive states. The training was held at the Witness Guest House Bukavu – I was pleasantly surprised to see another “Witness” in Eastern DRC.
The training covered WITNESS’ methodology of video advocacy and basics on how to film using Flip cameras. We agreed to produce a video featuring interviews with participants at the March, telling their stories and highlighting the issue of violence against women in eastern DRCand to screen that video during the March. In order to turn around the edit very quickly I’m working with a local editor and an assistant editor who works for the Ligue pour la Solidarite Congolaise (LSC), another Women’s Initiatives member organization. In my next blog post I’ll share the results of the screening which we held today.
In addition, the women who attended the training are conducting interviews among themselves which we had hoped to upload and share during the March. The participants are really excited about this opportunity to share their work and issue with wider audiences (via sharing the video online); an opportunity they rarely have had or never had before. As I mentioned, the weak Internet connection and unreliability of electricity has made this difficult to do from Bukavu, but we will get these videos online when I’m back in the office, if not before.
Ms. Bukeni Waruzi
I am pleased to connect with you on behalf of our group, What BETTER Looks Like (www.whatbetterlookslike.com) and our campaign to bring awareness to the atrocities in the Congo. I saw that you attended the Bukavu march in October and would be grateful for any information/colloboration you can provide us.
What BETTER Looks Like was started by a group of friends who felt a compelling desire to connect with the people of Rwanda and the Congo. One of our founders is a Rwandan genocide survivor with whom we journeyed to both countries in 2010. As a result of our incredible trip, we developed a community based project for the poverty stricken people of Nyarugunga Village in Rwanda, including the current sponsorship of students in college.
After speaking and being with many women in the Congo, specifically at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma who have suffered severe brutality, our mission on how we could help them was clear. Their voices need to be heard.
Our project is called 100,000 VOICES. We are actively arranging the gathering of 100,000 people to join us on March 8, 2012, International Woman’s Day—in Goma, DRC and beyond—to bring AWARENESS to the plight of Congolese women and children. During a recent gathering there, women rose above their fear and said, “Today we march because we must be heard.” Our 100,000 VOICES campaign will bring together people from around the world to stand in solidarity and respond, “WE HEAR YOU!”
We are in the process of connecting with officials in the Congo—obtaining permits, mapping routes, arranging for mass visas, speaking with women’s organizations—and have a large committee working to make this a reality. As part of our campaign, we are seeking to connect and partner with like-minded organizations to help spread the word and support each other. We would be honored to have you join us in fostering the development of an international ‘beloved community’ in the Congo.
I look forward to hearing from you via email: norma@whatbetterlookslike.com or by phone: daytime: 212-556-1278 or mobile: 646-248-9292.
In peace,
Norma Loeb
Executive Director
Join us on:
http://www.facebook.com/100kVoices
http://www.twitter.com/100000Voices
Hi Norma – great to learn about your initiative. It sounds great and I hope you’ll be successful.
While we can’t commit to be present at your event, we can certainly connect to our partners who are Goma and Bukavu, and in case they’re interested they will be able to be in touch with you.
Do you have any website?
Thanks,
Bukeni
Here is the link to the translation of the video, made by the trainees
http://universalsubtitles.org/videos/pq5cJhifLbTE…
In order they could be heard at a larger scale.
Hi Mukwiyu – Great that you'd like to be involved. Is your video on Youtube? If so, let me know if I can search it.
Thanks,
Bukeni
I really want to parcipate but i do not how. How can I send my video to be viewed?