Congolese Journalist Uses Airwaves as Activism

Chouchou Namegabe Dubuisson, a championing radio journalist, gave a gripping and moving account Tuesday of rape and violence as a weapon of civil strife against women in her country — the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Two thousand women have been raped in the eastern Congo during the past month and there is no end in sight, Chouchou, 31, said at the event held at the Westport Arts Center and co-sponsored by the Connecticut Council of Vital Voices Global Partnership.

Chouchou has become a household name in hundreds of remote villages in Congo for her work that has given a voice to victims of rape and violence in the ongoing civil strife, which began in the 1990s.

"In Africa, to talk about sex is taboo," she said. "Rape was considered to be a woman's issue and a woman's shame."

At the age of 17, Chouchou was encouraged by an older woman to record "testimonies" of rape victims and broadcast their stories for all to hear.

The award-winning journalist, who also speaks five languages including Swahili, French, English and two tribal dialects, spoke of how she struggled to find the right words to unlock the tormenting secrets of these women. Women who were not only raped in front of their children and neighbors, but then violated by torture techniques intended to humiliate them and destroy their fertility.

"To break the silence is to help heal the internal wounds," she said.

Chouchou collected 400 testimonies of women victims and aired them widely on a radio station  in Congo, where many villages have no means of communication with the outside world other than short-wave radio.

Those who live in Congolese communities were shocked by the courage of the women who gave their horrifying stories, Chouchou said. As more stories were broadcasted, more women felt free to reveal their own experiences.

Chouchou has spoken about the violence to the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands. Last March, she also testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate. Her plea was for the U.S. government to exercise its political power to influence the countries of Uganda and Rwanda to accept back guerrilla forces that have invaded Congo and used violence against women as a war strategy.

"They (the guerrilla forces) will take 50 soldiers infected with AIDS who will rape all the women in a village," according to film clip presented by Vital Voices Global Partnership.

Violence in the Congo has claimed the lives of more than 5 million people, according to the presentation.

Chouchou came to the U.S. earlier this week to receive an award in Washington, D.C., from the International Center for Journalists. She's addressed a few audiences on behalf of women who are victims of violence and is headed to address students at Yale University Wednesday.

In answer to a question from the audience of 100 rapt listeners, Chouchou acknowledged she had received threats on her life because of her reporting. She said three journalists in her city, Bukavu, have been killed for political reasons relating to their coverage of the civil strife.

Vital Voices Partnership is a 10-year-old organization that has sponsored 7,000 women with leadership potential in 127 nations, hoping to encourage empowering women in societies around the world.

For more information, go to vitalvoices.org.