Today I am blessed to be able to share with you a post from a guest blogger named Kim who might also be my sister...smile. Kim was able to attend a recent showing of the play "Ruined" Set in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ruined follows a young woman's nightmarish path to Mama Nadi, a savvy businesswoman who—in the midst of a complex civil war— both protects and profits from the women whose bodies have become battlegrounds. At once heartbreaking and captivating, Ruined pays homage to the courageous and resilient women who must piece themselves together after the ruin. and participate in the panel discussion after. Here is what she had to say:
The play "Ruined" was great. It was not as graphic as it could have been but certainly there was enough to cause an unpleasant churning in my stomach. I forgot what the review had said but basically the whole play takes place in a brothel. One of the main girls was given to to brothel by her uncle, after she has endured six months of captivity pleasuring one of the rebel groups resulting in her female organs being ruined. Another girl there was married and had a baby. She was attacked by four men while gardening, her husband was away buying her a pot. After being had by them, one of them stomped on her baby's head killing it. She was then brought back with the soldiers and spent 4 months experiencing the trama the other girl did, being used by the solders constantly. When she was released and returned home, her village turned their backs on her and her husband threw her out. Later he came back as a soldier, looking for her, carrying the pot he had
bought her, but she was pregant from being in the brothel and her husband had already called her a whore from the first event. She dies after birth, her husband was at the brothel and his anger brings him right back to being a soldier with more conviction.
The brothel served men from both sides of the conflict and in the end was at the heart of it. The brother owner had fed and housed 10 girls who worked for her on the premise that the brothel was safer than being out in the bush and at the mercy of the soldiers. She made good money, and was even going to help the ruined girl have surgery to fix her. Unfortunately the conflict was too close at the point and the girl's ride to the doctor in town (and through unpteen roadblocks). Left in a hurry for safety reasons, without the girl. At the end the war is all around them, the uncle and a few other visitors detailing horrors they saw of the conflict and the brothel is no longer making money. The uncle all along had been flirting with the owner, telling her they should go into business together and be together. In the end when she is no longer making any money he comes back again to ask her to be with him. Thoughout the play she was very much in charge,
ordering the girls, being stern with soldier, and again she refuses his proposal. Throughout the back and forth between them, we find out that she herself was ruined. The uncle comes back in fights to hold her, until she relents and falls into him in tears. He tells her again that he wants to be with her and that they will go slow and that he would always be gentle and caring.
Balled my eyes out! Donations were requested at the end of the play with 2/3rd going to the hospital that fixes the physical problems of the girls. Operations cost $500, in the Seattle run of the play to date they have raised $82,000 which means 400 surgeries. Donations can also be made be texting INTIMAN to 50555 to give a donation. I guess they text you back and you confirm and they add $10 to your phone bill to go to this purpose. The other third percent goes to continuing to expand the world/cultural plays at the theater to shed life on issues like this. Ruined was the first play to kick off this initiative.
At the discussion afterwards there was a guy from the Seattle chapter of FOTC, a woman/refugee from the Congo who has lived in the US for 10 yrs (since she was 17) and was a victim of the horrors described in the play, and a lawyer who works with immigration and refugees.
Much of the discussion was on what we can do to help. I will give organization names at the bottom of this email. but right now there are two legislative pieces. One is the "Name of Shame Bill" that forces US companies to disclose where they mine cobalt and coltan The other is an internation movement to create new "sullivan principles" which you would have to look up for the details but I think it was a treaty thing that was established to have fair working conditions ets in Africa and the rest of the world to only buy from them....basically human rights, but they need to be updated. There is also a group called the "Enough project" look online. They are trying to get all the info on where companies get their minerals etc out by Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) to help consumers know which companies to avoid. FYI hybrid vehicles contain minerals from the congo.
They also discussed rape as a long time weapon of war. In WWII Russian soldiers raped 900,000 women. The premise was explained (new to me) and I will try to explain some of it. The root of a community is the women. Rape is easy for the men committing it, it's cheap, doesn't require weapons, and is a crime of power. The women are the soul, they are raped. The husbands feel weak because they couldn't or didn't protect their wife. They feel shame for themselves, they feel disgused by what happened to the women which often translated to them being disgusted by their wives because their wives are a reminder of their "inadequacies" as a husband. So the women are the first in a series of domino, after them the men fall. They may turn the women out and/or join the conflict engaging in their own acts of rape to try and feel like a man again. Of course the effects on the women and men tear about the families, communities, and any ability to fight back
for what is right. They now have to retrain the men and there are some classes or groups that are trying to teach men to deal with what happens after their wife is raped and to not be shamed by it. This is an entire transformation in cultural thinking and no easy task.
A movie of interest "Cumo" It is actually what started the bill above "Name of Shame." A woman (from FOTC) showed this movie to a group of 12-20 people. I think a mix of adults and children. They were so enraged that a group of kids from the neighborhood decided to fill up a bag with 50 lbs of rock (what kids in the congo carry daily) and walk it around the neighborhood with posters about the issue and making as much noise as possible. Somehow this got the attention of the representative here that started this bill as an ammendment to the fair trade act. We are encourage to not limit what we think one person (by showing the movie) is capable of starting. Another book for history on teh Congo is King Leopold's Ghost.
Okay web sites organizations:
Breaking the Silence week is Oct 17-23, encouraged to host a movie, host a fundraiser, etc.... www.congoweek.org
Women for women international - they help all women around the world and help with the hospital in the congo that surgically fixes women
www.womenforwomen.org/
Thanks Kim for all the great info and links! Kim will be participating in the "Run for Congo Women". If you are able to support her, please send a check to before Oct 16th:
Intiman Theatre
Attn: Run for Congo Women
1307 N 43rd St, #305
Seattle, WA 98103
