Project sponsorship in Kigali, Rwanda:During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, an estimated 250,000 women and girls were raped and maimed, and many were killed. Quite a few have given birth to the children of the men who raped them, and as a result they are struggling not only with the consequences of violence, war, and destruction, but also with feelings of guilt and rejection towards their unwanted daughters and sons.
The Rwandan organisations Kanyarwanda and SEVOTA (Solidarité pour l’Epanouissement des Veuves et des Orphelins visant le Travail et l’Auto promotion) are combating the suffering of these women with active help. Together they set up the women’s forum Abiyubaka (Engl.: People who help each other), which offers support to about 30 women and their children to deal with both everyday problems and their traumatic experiences. In 2007 another women’s forum was founded under the name Bizeye (en: hope). medica mondiale has been sponsoring these project partners since 2008.
Consequences of genocide
Nearly a million people were murdered during the genocide in Rwanda. In a mere 100 days between April and July of 1994, members of the Hutu majority murdered around 75 percent of the Tutsi living in Rwanda and moderate Hutu as well. Sexualised wartime violence was employed as a tactic for spreading fear and for demonstrating power. According to the United Nations children’s organisation UNICEF, the estimated number of raped women and girls lies somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 – precise figures are not known. Most of them were murdered after they were raped, bur some of the survivors became unwilling mothers as a result of the acts of sexualised violence; official estimates range from 2000 to 5000 children, the number of unreported cases is undoubtedly much higher.
Support for survivors of sexualised violence
Since the genocide ended, the Rwandan human rights organisations KANYARWANDA and SEVOTA have been providing support to widows and orphans of the genocide. In a joint project, the organisations offer support and psychosocial counselling particularly to women who were raped during or after the war, and to their children whom they brought into the world as a consequence of rape.
Although tens of thousands of women suffered this brutal violence, rape is still considered taboo and a disgrace in Rwanda. The mothers not only have to live with the traumatic consequences of violence, war and destruction, but also with feelings of guilt and rejection toward their unwanted children. They are often unable to accept them like the other children in the family, so many children born out of rape grow up under considerable hardship. Most of the affected children show signs of mental traumatisation and neglect – this was shown by a study that KANYARWANDA and SEVOTA conducted in 2005/2006 with 27 women and their children. In their social environment – the extended families of mothers and communities – these children also frequently suffer open discrimination and are disadvantaged when it comes to education or healthcare, for example.
“Abiyubaka” and “Abiyubaka Bizeye” – a forum for women
2005 KANYARWANDA and SEVOTA created the Abiyubaka women’s forum – the name Abiyubaka means “People who help each other”. Once every two months a total of 30 women from various regions of Rwanda convene for a meeting in the capital Kigali. All of them were raped during or after the genocide and have given birth to children of the men who raped them. A second women’s forum – Abiyubaka Bizeye – was created in 2007, offering support to another 30 women.
During the two-day meetings, the women have the opportunity to talk with each other about difficulties with their children, families, or in their social environment. Learning that they are not alone with their experiences – in particular the feelings of guilt toward their children – gives them strength and renewed courage to take charge of their own lives. In addition to the open discussion groups, a trauma expert offers the women therapeutic counselling. In individual and group sessions, they are able to come to terms with their own history and broach the issue of their frequently troubled relationship with their children. Role playing games in which the women re-enact the experiences of individual participants have proven to be especially beneficial. Together the women look for solutions and learn to accept their situation better.
Around 200 women and children were able to participate on a regular basis in the total of twelve meetings sponsored by medica mondiale in 2008 and 2009. The expenses for travel, lodging, meals and rent for the meeting rooms were covered, as were the costs of coordinators and counsellors.
For the future, KANYARWANDA and SEVOTA are planning to develop a nationwide support network for women rape victims and their children, collaborating with various contact points and counselling centres.
Howdy would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good internet hosting provider at a fair price? Kudos, I appreciate it!
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content
seem to be running off the screen in Safari.
I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with browser
compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though!
Hope you get the problem solved soon. Kudos
Great article, exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you are
a great author. I will be sure to bookmark your blog
and will often come back down the road. I want to encourage you to definitely continue your great job,
have a nice weekend!
I know this web site gives quality based content and other data, is there any other
web site which presents these things in quality?
I am curious to find out what blog platform you happen to be using?
I’m having some minor security problems with my latest blog and I’d like to find something more safe.
Do you have any recommendations?
Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your post. I like to
write a little comment to support you.
Awesome blog you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any user discussion forums that
cover the same topics talked about in this article?
I’d really love to be a part of community where I can get
advice from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest.
If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
Many thanks!
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for
your weblog. You have some really great articles and I believe I would be a
good asset. If you ever want to take some of the
load off, I’d really like to write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back
to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested. Many
thanks!
Hi there, You’ve done a fantastic job. I will definitely digg it and
personally recommend to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Hi there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to give it a look.
I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will
be tweeting this to my followers! Exceptional blog and terrific style and design.
Truly no matter if someone doesn’t be aware of then its up to other users that they will assist, so
here it occurs.
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit,
but instead of that, this is fantastic blog. A great read.
I will certainly be back.
I feel this is among the such a lot important information for me.
And i am glad studying your article. But want to commentary on some basic issues, The
web site taste is perfect, the articles is actually great :
D. Just right task, cheers
Wow, amazing blog structure! How long have you ever been blogging for?
you made running a blog glance easy. The total look of
your website is fantastic, let alone the content!
Hi there would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with?
I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a
difficult time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A design like yours with a few simple adjustements
would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme.
Many thanks
antalya escort bayanlarla humpakiyi domaltıp sikişler
Hi, Neat post. There is an issue along with your web site in internet explorer, could check this?
IE nonetheless is the marketplace chief and a huge part of people will pass over your great writing
due to this problem.
We’re a group of volunteers and starting
a new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable
info to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our entire community will be thankful
to you.
hey there and thank you for your info – I have certainly picked up anything
new from right here. I did however expertise several technical
issues using this website, as I experienced to reload the web site many times
previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and
could damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and could look out for much more of your respective exciting
content. Ensure that you update this again very soon.
That is really fascinating, You are a very professional blogger.
I’ve joined your feed and sit up for in quest of more of your magnificent post.
Additionally, I have shared your web site in my social networks pof natalielise
There’s definately a lot to find out about this subject.
I like all the points you’ve made.
Hi, I want to subscribe for this webpage to take most up-to-date updates, thus where can i do it please help.
Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and
you’re just too great. I actually like what you’ve acquired here,
certainly like what you are saying and the way in which you say it.
You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it wise.
I can not wait to read far more from you.
This is actually a great web site.
Hey There. I found your blog using msn.
This is a very well written article. I’ll be sure to
bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post.
I will certainly return.
I am not sure where you’re getting your information,
but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning more
or understanding more. Thanks for great information I was looking for
this information for my mission. natalielise pof
Asking questions are actually good thing if you are not understanding something totally, except this post gives pleasant understanding even.
Can you please click here? http://optitopt.com/3J0g You won’t regret clicking.
You’ll get to see a really funny picture.
Remarkable issues here. I am very satisfied to peer your post.
Thank you so much and I’m taking a look ahead to touch you.
Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Hi there i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anywhere, when i read this
article i thought i could also make comment due
to this brilliant post.
Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found
that it’s really informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels.
I’ll appreciate if you continue this in future.
Lots of people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
Jan 30, 2019 –
Hi mates, its impressive paragraph regarding teachingand
fully explained, keep it up all the time.
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article.
I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more
of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.
Hello I am so thrilled I found your webpage,
I really found you by mistake, while I was researching on Bing
for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks
a lot for a fantastic post and a all round thrilling blog
(I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time
to go through it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so
when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the awesome jo.
Ponemos a disposición de nuestros clientes un presupuesto gratuito, sin compromiso y totalmente ajustable al bolsillo de cada cliente, porque no todos son iguales, por lo que ello supone una tarea difícil que es la de complacer a todos aquellos que confíen en nuestro servicio técnico.
I’m extremely pleased to uncover this site.
I need to to thank you for ones time due to this wonderful read!!
I definitely loved every bit of it and I have you bookmarked
to look at new stuff on your web site.
Definitely believe that which you stated. Your
favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the easiest thing to
be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while
people think about worries that they just do not know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without
having side effect , people can take a signal. Will probably be back
to get more. Thanks
Appreciate this post. Will try it out.
Hello! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d
figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article
or vice-versa? My website covers a lot of the same subjects as yours
and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you! Awesome blog by the
way!