Victims of Congo rape epidemic: how you can help (update).

Last month here on BoingBoing, we pointed to a New York Times story about the rape epidemic in the Congo, "Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War." Susannah Breslin tipped us to that story, and she provides an update.

The [NYT] piece painted a horrifying portrait of mass rapes in war-torn Eastern Congo. According to the UN, 27,000 women were raped in the South Kivu Province in 2006, and "[t]he sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world." These rapes are particularly brutal: "Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair," wrote Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief of the Times. "'We don't know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,' said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo's rape epidemic. 'They are done to destroy women.'"

(…) In the [Boing Boing] comments, a reader asked: "Does anyone know of anyway people could help?" So, I wrote an email to Gettleman, asking if there was something people could do. Gettleman suggested I get in touch with Erika Beckman, Project Manager of the Female Victims of Sexual Violence project at the Panzi Hospital. I've posted her email in full. Let others know how they can help stop the Congo rape epidemic by posting about it on your blog.

Information on how to make financial donations and provide other forms of support are detailed in the full text of Susannah's post: Link.

Previously on BB:
Africa — rape epidemic in Congo war worsens