At the Holy See’s embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo on February 1, the Pope received victims of violence from the east of the country who were witnesses of unimaginable brutality. Today, with the help of the local church, they start their lives anew.
(Vatican News Network)On the afternoon of February 1, Pope Francis received victims of violence from the eastern part of the country at the Holy See Embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Several victims told the Pope about their testimonies. Parts of eastern Congo have been ravaged by relentless violence from multiple armed groups.
The first to testify was 17-year-old Ladislas Kambale Kombi. His narration was horrifying. He said his brother died in an unknown manner and that his father was attacked by men in military uniform. Ladislas had seen it all so much that he could not sleep. He saw the men hack his father into pieces and then put “his head off and put it in a basket”. Before they left, they took his mother with them, and she never came back. In this way, only Ladislas and his two sisters remained. “Later, with the spiritual and psychological companionship of our local Church, I and other children here forgave our persecutors,” he said, introducing several other teenagers who, like himself, had experienced violence first-hand.
Another witness is Bijoux Mukumbi Kamala, a 17-year-old girl from Goma. In 2020, when she and other girls went to the river to fetch water, they encountered some rebels. She said, “They took us into the woods, each rebel chose one he wanted, and the commander chose me. He raped me like an animal. It was very cruel and painful. I was left as his woman. Being next to him, being raped by him at any time of the day. This situation lasted for a year and seven months.” One day a stroke of luck strikes her and a friend of hers finds a chance to escape.
Bijou continued to testify, “Through this experience, I came back pregnant. Giving birth to twin daughters who will never know their father. Her other friend who was kidnapped with me that day has not returned”. She condemned the killings by dozens of armed groups across the country, resulting in the forcible displacement of families, the orphaning of children, the exploitation of young children in mines or as soldiers, and the rape and torture of girls and women.
In her testimony, Bijou begged God to forgive her because “she condemned these people in her heart” and asked God to forgive her rapers and lead them to “stop causing unnecessary suffering to people”. Bijou concluded by saying, “May God forgive us all and teach us to respect human life”.
Another witness is Father Guy-Robert Mandro Deholo from Bunia, who has multiple fingers missing from one hand. He presented the testimony written by Désiré Dhetsina before his disappearance. Desiré was a survivor of an attack on a camp for displaced persons on the night of 1 February 2022: when an armed group attacked the camp, 63 people were killed, including 24 women and 17 children. Desiré spoke of what had happened in the camp, the looting, the killings, the kidnapping after another. He also expressed the people’s need for peace, the people’s desire to return to their villages, rebuild their homes, and cultivate their fields again. The people long to “be far from the clamor of weapons! As children of God, we want to live in dignity”.
The last witness was Emelda M’Karhungulu from the village of Bugobe, in the southwest region of Bukavu. One night in 2005, when rebels attacked her village, she, then 16, fell into the hands of the others, too. She said, “I was abused as a sex slave for three months. Every day, five to ten men abused each of us. They made us eat pasta made of corn and the meat of people who had been killed. Sometimes they put human heads and animals It is our daily food. Anyone who refuses to eat it will be cut into pieces.” Until one day, Emelda managed to escape while going to the river to fetch water.
Emelda returned home and was treated. In her testimony, she expressed to the Pope all “joy and gratitude to the victims of atrocities and other disasters” for his willingness to make this trip and show his concern. Emelda finally said, “We want a different future. We are willing to put this dark past behind us and build a better future. We pray for justice and peace. We forgive those who abused us. In all that we do, we ask the Lord for the grace of living together in harmony”.
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