Additional Information
Atrocities beyond words
(The Economist - May 2008)
It's all relative
(The Economist - June 2008)
Sexual violence in DCR
(Lancet - 2008)
Congo Humanitarian Crisis (Associated Press - Jan 2006)
Congo Rape Victims Seek Solace (BBC- 2008)
War Against Women. (CBS 60 minutes - 2008 - Video Report)
The Greatest Silence
( Lisa F. Jackson - 2008 - DVD)
More Vicious Than Rape (Newsweek - 2006)
Related Organizations
Heal Africa provides holistic care for the people of the DCR: training health professionals, strengthening social activists and providing physical, spiritual and social healing.
Women for Women provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies
Enough aims to answer questions about what is really happening in conflicts and crises around the world - it is a project of the Center for American Progress.
How we Started
Hope Quilts was started in 2007 by Barbara Allen with the support of
Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, and The First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley and a small, but now rapidly growing, group of quilters. Since 2007, over 200 women have received a quilt when they left the Heal Africa hospital and returned to their villages.
You can view photos of the quilts that have been shipped in our gallery.
Why Quilts?
Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) is a mountainous region of Africa where these quilts are used for warmth as well as being a gift to women who return home after surgery with few personal possessions.
Hope Quilts provides an opportunity for women who want to work with their hands to reflect the love and concern in their hearts. While most of us may not be able to travel to this area of need and conflict, Hope Quilts offers an avenue to express our compassion for women who have suffered atrocities beyond belief.
If you are interested in participating you will find details at our participate page.
The War in Eastern Congo
Since 1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been engaged in a series of conflicts involving 8 different countries and up to 25 different rebel groups. The war has had a high toll on the civilian population of Congo, resulting in 5.4 million deaths, the highest death toll of any war since World War II. The violent rape of women has been a mark of this conflict. Women for Women International recently stated "The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world". The UN in March 2005 described eastern Congo as "the worst humanitarian crises in the world". » read more
Traumatic Fistula / VVF
Traumatic fistula is the result of violent rape followed by a foreign object (rifle, knife, stick) being forced into the vagina and surrounding organs, causing severe tears between the vagina and bladder or tears between the vagina and rectum. Rebel soldiers inflict this atrocity against women as a weapon of war.
Fistulas require surgical repair. Infection as a result of the trauma is frequent and must be treated before surgery can proceed. Some women may have sexually transmitted infections if the fistula is a result of rape including syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV. If the damage is severe surgeries may need to be repeated 2 to 3 times, extending hospital stays to more than 6 months. » read more