"DRC’s male and female rape survivors share their stories" - AlJazeera

Original article written by Josh Estey & Sarah Thust and can be found in its entirety at https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/4/14/drcs-male-and-female-rape-survivors-share-their-stories

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Alain (whose name has been changed to protect his identity) is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But last autumn, he was sitting in the office of the Refugee Law Project in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, as he calmly recounted his story.

He described the night in May 2012 when government forces attacked his family’s home in the DRC.

“It was 8pm and they shot open the door with a gun, yelling at us, accusing us of being rebel sympathisers,” Alain recalled. His father, he said, had been in a dispute with a local politician over some land. He believes this is why they were targeted. “They said: ‘You support the rebels. We’ll show you that you are not a man.'” 

Alain said his father begged them not to hurt his family. But they did not listen. “They shot me in the back. They put a cable around my neck and began choking me. The soldiers grabbed and held me down. They said, ‘We are going to rape you.’ And they each took turns. I used to be big and strong, but I couldn’t fight off all three. I closed my eyes, and I only heard sounds. I heard the cries of my mother and sister as they were raped in the next room. Then shots rang out, and my father was dead.”

A neighbour found the family after the attack and took them to the hospital. It was the last time that Alain saw his mother and sister. Alain underwent surgery in the hospital, after which he said the pastor there told him that he would never again be considered a real man. He felt he had no choice but to leave the country, so he took a bus to neighbouring Uganda.

Today, Alain lives in Uganda, where he continues to suffer from trauma, physical injuries and social stigma. He joined the Men of Hope Refugee Association – a group based in Uganda – which has taken up the fight against sexual violence in conflicts across Africa. Its members are men who have survived rape and torture in the DRC.

Even though they managed to escape their homeland, they still need to conceal their identities when being photographed, because homosexual activity is illegal in Uganda, and these men risk punishment if they talk about their rapes.

In the eastern part of the DRC, thousands of women, men and children are subjected to rape every year. The perpetrators come from different groups and militias and – in Alain’s case – government forces. “When I retell my story, like I did with you today,” he said, “I will go home and be alone and that’s when it starts replaying in my mind like a movie. “Reliving this story, reliving this trauma. But that is where RLP (the Refugee Law Project) has helped me. They have taught me ways to manage my anger, fear and memories.”

He implores the “powerful countries of the world” to speak up against these crimes. “We must stop these bad things,” he said.

Doctors estimate that nearly one in four men in eastern DRC has been raped. It is also thought that one in three women has suffered from sexual violence, according to aid workers interviewed for this article. These people suffer twice – from the act itself, and from the social discrimination they endure as a result of it.

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The story of another survivor, Lucia, who did not want to give identifying details such as her real name, age or the name of her village, illustrates the brutality of such attacks. When it came to taking her photograph, she chose to hide her face with an axe. Like most survivors, she fears threats and revenge.

“My life has been a nightmare since my first rape at the age of 13. I went to a wedding with my family in Bunyakiri, and while fetching water from the river, my friends and I were raped. I was raped by a number of men – I have never been able to count – and since then, I have been physically paralysed and am disabled,” she recounted. "One month afterwards, I realised that I was pregnant. A baby boy was born of this rape, but this child will never know who his father is because they were too many that day to know for sure. These men destroyed my life.”

Lucia’s nightmare was far from over. Three years later, she went to her cousin’s wedding in Kalonge, around 45km (28 miles) from where she was first raped. Again, rebels attacked the village, but this time Lucia could not even try to run. Despite her physical paralysis, several men raped her that day. She later gave birth to her second child. She asked: “Who should I fight? My fear, my pain, my despair or the unknowns that are the basis of my misfortune?”

Lucia’s story is not unusual in eastern DRC. Many women are raped multiple times.