lynsey addario, photographer

Africa: Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Rosetta, 30, shows scarring on her back which started appearing after she was kidnapped by two interhamwe and repeatedly raped for two weeks in South Kivu, and eventually left HIV+, at a center in Walungu, South Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 14, 2008. She says '...the two men were wearing dirty trainers. They raped me repeatedly and alternated days and kicked me. ...I don't know what these scars are. These men left me with an illness...' An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Kahindo, 20, sits in her home with her two children born out of rape in North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. Kahindo was kidnapped and held for almost three years in the bush by six interhamwe, who she claims were Rwandan soldiers. They each raped her repeatedly, and she had one child in the forest, and was pregnant with the second by the time she escaped. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
   
Eliza, 12, stands in the Panzi hospital where she is being treated for Fistula repair, in South Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 14, 2008. Eliza was taken from her home by two soldiers and brought into the forest, where she was kicked to the ground and raped. She explains '...they introduced something into my body, and urine started pouring out. Before urine didn't come out that way. It was something hard, something close to his body....I didn't know what was happening...' Eliza was 11 years old when she was raped. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
     
  
Chibalonza, 26, sits in the hospital in Walungu, South Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 14, 2008. Chibalonza was kidnapped by six men in uniforms and brought to the forest for nine months, where she was raped repeatedly. 'I am alone here--all my family is dead...they killed two of my children, one in front of me--struck a hammer to his head, and the other I couldn't see. They killed my husband in the Ninja forest. My sister saw the death of my husband....They were interhamwe. They spoke KenyaRwanda and we walked for four days to reach the forest where they kept me in a hole underground surrounded by rocks....' An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Bibiane, 28, weeps as she talks about her experience getting kidnapped and raped by three men over the course of three days in the forest in South Kivu at a center in South Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 14, 2008. Bibiane was left HIV+ after she was assaulted, and her husband left her because she was raped; she has three children, and one has just died from malnutrition. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Lwange, 51, sits with her three year old child, Florida, in a village in North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. Florida was raped by a man in his mid-twenties about a week prior while her mother was working in the home. 'The child was behind the house and screamed a lot. when i went outside to see what was happening, there was a man who was not wearing pants, and he ran away with his pants in his hands. The child was bleeding alot, and her vagina was in bad shape. Since that day, my daughter does not speak. she used to speak a lot, but she does not speak anymore....' An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
     
  
Vumilia, 38, from a village in south Kivu, sits in a center in Walungu, South Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 14, 2008. Vmulia was kipnapped from her home and held at a military camp for interhamwe for eight months, raped by at least 5 different men, and recently gave birth to a child born out of this rape. She has seven other children. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Sifa, 16, sits in the Heal Africa shelter in Goma about six months after she was raped in a town in eastern Congo, North Kivu, April 10, 2008. Sifa said she could not run away from the fighting in Sake because she was handicapped by elephantitis, and she is now six months pregnant. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Mapendo, 22, lies in her home in a village in South Kivu, weak and covered in a skin rash less than a year after she was kidnapped and raped by five men, wearing uniforms and carrying guns, in South Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 14, 2008. Mapendo never had the chance to go to the hospital after she was attacked for lack of funds and transportation, and was so weak she could barely sit up. 'I have sores all over my body and I have been suffering from these sores for many months now. I had a husband and child before I was raped. My child died suddenly when it was three years old. My husband was buried in the mines....' An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
     
  
Kanyere holds her three year old child, Kabira, in a remote village in North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. Kabira was raped while her mother was working in the fields by a 48 year old man, and he was since caught and put in prison. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Furaha, 72 years old, sits in a Keyshero medical facility in Goma after having been gang raped by 4 men, allegedly from the Interhamwe Hutu militia while she was working in the fields. As the men began to attack her, Furaha said 'I am very old, why are you taking me? I am your grandmother.' And they proceeded to rape her one by one. Furaha just underwent fistula surgery last week, and is doing well. She is from South Kivu. Since the beginning of the war in eastern Congo, thousands of women have been sexually assaulted in Congo. In the North Kivu, figures average about 200 women per month, and most rapes go unreported, and many are unable to reach medical facilities for treatment. Figures estimate that 80% of the victims are assaulted by men wearing some kind of uniform.
  
Wimana, 40 years, reveals a gunshot wound to her back as her 6 year old daughter, Zabayao, reaches up to touch it in the Keyshero Medical center and shelter in Goma, North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. Wimana and her family were attacked in their village in massissi at the end of November 2007 when men dressed in police unifmrs came to their house at night, looted the house and brought the family members to the forest. They held her and her 12 year old daughter, tied their hands, raped them, and shot them both in the back. They chased us saying we were Matussi (from the Nile region). I don't know where my husband is now. I haven't seen him since that day.' An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
     
  
Congolese women who were sexually assaulted sit in a shelter run by Heal Africa in Goma, North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 10, 2008. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Keysuba, 50, lies in pain in the waiting room for surgery in the Keyshero medical center in Goma, North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. Keysuba was raped in June of last year when she was cultivating in the fields, but is being treated now for ovarian cancer, which she didn't know she had. She assumed her pain was from the rape, and it was not until a nurse told her in this moment that she had cancer that she learned she was having a histerectomy. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
A Congolese woman who was sexually assaulted undergoes a fistula repair, left, at the Keyshero medical center in Goma, North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
     
  
A Congolese woman who was sexually assaulted undergoes a fistula repair, left, at the Keyshero medical center in Goma, North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 12, 2008. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.
  
Nelly, 14, from Massissi, lies pregnant in the Keyshero shelter and medical centers in Goma, North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, April 9, 2008. An average of 400 women per month were estimated to be sexually assualted in the autumn of 2007 in eastern Congo, while in the first months of 2008, the figure dropped to an average of 100 women per month. This said, many women never make it to treatment centers, and are not accounted for in these statistics.