The Spine Africa Project Helps Triathelete Reach Finish Line

April Houston shares a striking similarity to those in theCongoshe is about to help – they run.  However, the reasons for their journeys are very different.  On July 15, April will be taking part in the King Orthopedics Big Shark New Town Triathlon.  She will be competing in her first triathalon that includes a 4-mile run, a .62-mile swim, and a 20-mile trek on her bicycle.  April is currently raising money through this triatahlon for The Panzi Foundation, an organization that aids the victims of sexual violence in theCongo.  While April pushes her body to the limit she knows it pales in comparison to the distance and the fear those in theCongomust conquer to escape the genocide and the violence being perpetrated there.

April has long been interested in genocide prevention.  She notes, “I have always been opposed to injustices of all kinds, even as a child.  I moved toSt. Louis and in 2006 I met a group of young men who were refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  I heard their stories of fleeing attackers in the middle of the night, running for days, seeing their friends and neighbors slaughtered in front of them, not knowing if their parents were alive or dead.  At that point I told them that I would commit myself to do everything possible to help.”  April is a former recipient of the Carl Wilkens Fellowship, an opportunity that “provides a diverse set of emerging citizen leaders with the tools and training to build sustained political will to end genocide.”  The Fellowship was formerly offered through United to End Genocide (previously known as The Genocide Intervention Network).

For the past decade the Congo has been engaged in a power struggle between opposing political parties and armed militias from surrounding countries all of whom are interested in Congo’s vast wealth of unmined resources.  The result has been the deaths of over 5 million Congolese natives, the rape of millions of women, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more.

The Spine Africa Project has seen firsthand the catastrophic consequences of this violence during the organization’s many trips to the Eastern Congo.  The Spine Africa Project is aNew Jersey based non-profit organization that provides spinal surgery to those injured as a result of the atrocities withinCongo.  Unfortunately, the basic provisions for spine surgery do not yet exist inCongo despite the alarmingly high number of injuries.  Sadly, the life expectancy of someone in the Congo with an untreated spinal injury is less than two years.  The goals of The Spine Africa Project are to provide medical treatment for those in need as well as educate the local physicians in the field of spine surgery.  This will allow them to address and treat spine related injuries within their communities.

Through a mutual friend at the Panzi Foundation, The Spine Africa Project learned about April’s endeavor. “Here was someone who was well aware of the situation in Congo and was doing something to help.  To us, the value is not only in the financial contributions people make but also in raising awareness about what is happening in Congo.  It is obvious that April is doing both of these things,” says Daniel Goldberg of The Spine Africa Project.

April’s website highlights her desire to raise funds and outlines what those funds could provide for the women of Congo.  For example, as little as $340 will cover all the costs for a fistula surgery at Panzi Hospital.  The Spine Africa Project strongly believes in April’s cause and donated enough money for her to reach her initial goal of $1,000.  Shortly thereafter, April set her sights higher and doubled her fundraising goal to $2,000.  Together, April and The Spine Africa Project are teaming up to raise awareness through social media and other marketing channels to spread the word of April’s mission and encourage further donations.   As of today, April has raised $1,540 of her $2,000 goal.  When asked what would be a single overriding goal to help those in theCongo, April didn’t hesitate, “Empowering the women.  The Congo is full of strong women who have survived extreme emotional and physical trauma.  Giving them the knowledge and tools to take control of their own destiny would put their entire country on a different trajectory”.

Grassroots fundraising projects such as this one truly make a difference in the war-ravaged areas of the Eastern Congo.  This is because the funds are given directly to the institutions they support and not to governments which have been riddled with corruption. Donations can be made up until the day of the triathlon via April’s website.  Please help support April as she endeavors to help those truly in need.

Joseph Kony in Congo

Copied from The Enough Project (http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/enough-101-lords-resistance-army-congo)

 

Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, was formed in northern Uganda in 1987, and in the past 25 years has murdered, kidnapped, and spread terror among civilians in four countries in central Africa, including the Congo. 

Despite currently being pursued by regional forces supported by U.S. military advisors, the LRA now operates in an area covering approximately 115,000 square miles in the Congo, Central African Republic, or CAR, and South Sudan.

The LRA first shifted its base of operations to Garamba National Park, Congo, beginning in 2005. Due to years of civil and regional war and lack of governance, the Congo was primed to serve as a refuge for armed groups. The LRA did not start attacking Congolese people until September 2008, instead preferring to use its base in the Congo to rebuild its strength while launching attacks and raids into CAR and southern Sudan. During this time, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known at the time as MONUC, coordinated two forays into the park with the Congolese army, both of which failed to contain the LRA due to major logistical and tactical errors.

LRA leader Joseph Kony had been in peace negotiations with the government of Uganda since2006, but ultimately refused to sign the accords.  When the peace talks fell apart and the LRA began attacks in Congo, a military operation led by Uganda, with the support of the United States, launched in December 2008. 

In retaliation for the Uganda-led operations, the LRA killed more than 865 civilians and abducted at least 160 children from three areas in northern Congo over a period of a few weeks in the infamous “Christmas Massacres” of December 2008 and January 2009. According to Human Rights Watch, “LRA combatants hacked their victims to death with machetes or axes or crushed their skulls with clubs and heavy sticks.”

From September 2008 through mid-January 2009, the LRA killed over 1,033 civilians and abducted at least 476 children in Congo.

In March 2010, Enough documented a series of LRA attacks on Congolese soldiers, “suggesting a level of confidence on the part of LRA fighters that one would not expect from a militia rumored to be dying out.” And in early 2011, the LRA increased attacks on more heavily populated civilian areas, targeting civilians and humanitarian aid agencies.

More recently, after a lull in attacks in the latter half of 2011, the LRA has increased its activity in Orientale province in northeastern Congo. In the first two weeks of February 2012, at least 12 LRA attacks were reported in Congo.

The armies of the four governments, with the assistance of U.S. military advisors, began a new operation against the LRA in late 2011. The mission is based in CAR and South Sudan. However, although there is a battalion of the Congolese army deployed in LRA-affected areas of Congo, it has limited ability to respond rapidly to possible threats to civilians and is conducting only some patrols in the vast area in which the LRA currently operates, according to Enough sources. The Congolese government has refused for the past six months to allow Ugandan troops to operate in its territory to pursue the LRA senior leadership and protect civilians. The Congolese government consistently denies the threat of the LRA on Congolese soil—they do not want Ugandan troops in the Congo, at least in large part due to their exploitation of Congo’s natural resources several years ago, and would prefer U.S. military aid to be given directly to the Congolese army rather than to the Ugandans.

Since 2008, LRA attacks have displaced an estimated 320,000 people in Congo’s Orientale province and 30,000 Congolese refugees have fled to the Central African Republic and South Sudan.

In January 2012, the U.N. and the African Union met with representatives of the countries affected by the LRA and agreed in principle to allow troops to freely cross borders in pursuit of LRA forces. However, in practice the Congolese government continues to block access to the Ugandan army, severely limiting the effectiveness of the mission as the LRA continues to attack civilians in Congo.  See the LRA Crisis Tracker for the most recent updates on LRA violence.

In March 2012, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, reported that thousands of people have been displaced due to the recent spike in LRA attacks in Congo. According to a UNHCR spokesperson, “There have been 20 attacks since the beginning of this year. One person was killed and 17 abducted during these incidents.”