The City of Joy

Seth Fischer bio ↓  ·  January 31st, 2010  ·  filed under politics

“This is not rape as people in the West understand it. This is a weapon of war, a deliberate strategy designed to destroy our communities by leaving our women disabled and ostracised from their families and neighbours.”– Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor who treats rape victims and is helping to build a place called “The City of Joy,” a town especially built for women to “heal, rebuild and learn new skills to take out into the world again.”

You should really, really read this article. It made me cry.

Here’s more with some ways to help, if you’re interested, which you should be. This is the deadliest and most violent conflict since World War II, and no one seems to have noticed.

Update: It turns out Kristof just wrote a very good column on the Congo, too.

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Seth Fischer's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Swink, Pank, Guernica, Monkeybicycle, Gertrude, and elsewhere. He's working on a novel about a girl who accidentally raises an army and destroys the world, and he's founding editor of The Splinter Generation. He also teaches and tutors and administrates and does copyediting and copywriting so that he can pay bills, but that only works sometimes. If you could help him make that work all the time, he would probably give you a hug, but only if you wanted one. Reach him at seth.fischer (at) gmail.com or @sethfischer. More from this author →

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