Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Goma (Agenzia Fides)- The silent victims of “forgotten wars” are mainly women and children. This is the case of women in north Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where bands of armed men, local and foreign, have spread death and destruction for the past 15 years.
Still today, despite the presence of UN peace keeping forces, MONUC , whose numbers are destined to decrease, people of villages north of Goma, the main city of North Kivu, fearing night-time incursions by one of the many armed bands operating in the area sleep in the forest.
Women especially are affected because the DRC is notoriously the country with the highest rate of sexual violence in the world. This sort of violence is used as a weapon to frighten the people and put them to flight .
The Catholic Church in Goma has launched a programme of socio-economic reinsertion for women victims of armed conflict.
The programme funded by Caritas Australia and run by Caritas Goma, aims to supply 400 women with kits comprising seeds of beans, maize, amaranth, cabbage, carrots and eggplant, and also breeding animals.
Moreover Caritas Goma has launched a feeding programme for children with the help of the World Food Programme which aims to distribute food and medicines and give nutrition education to mothers. Caritas Goma and UNICEF run an emergency programme for serious cases of malnutrition. Sad to say, despite treatment , many of the children die and others survive but with permanent brain damage. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/6/2010)
