Ahadi - The Quilt of Promise
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During the summer of 2010, more than 100 women at SOS FED centers produced embroidered panels for a quilt. The Ahadi quilt will tell the story of their experience with war and sexual violence and serve as a multi-faceted tool. First, Ahadi will inform and educate the world about the threat that faces Congolese women. Second, it allows women to express themselves through art. Third, the quilt will serve as an advocacy tool and allow survivors to advocate for themselves to a large audience. Fourth, the quilt will hopefully raise funds for SOS FED. Finally, the act of embroidering panels, alongside other survivors, turned out to be deeply therapeutic. The outcome has been to empower women who have been so often marginalized and silenced.
The material on these pages was produced by Sylvie Bisangwa from The Advocacy Project, who volunteered at SOS FED this summer and helped to coordinate the making of the quilt. SOS FED is now seeking an association of professional quilters in the US to help connect the tiles into a single quilt. Once this is done, the quilt will be exhibited in North America and Europe. The quilt’s name – Ahadi – is the Swahili word for promise. This name has been chosen because the quilt promises support for the SOS FED survivors, and also looks forward to better days ahead.
How the quilt was made: AP Peace Fellow Sylvie Bisangwa (left) helped women produce their tiles and blogged about the process. SOS FED let the women tell their own story and asked only that they produce "images that speak." At first, writes Sylvie, there were worries that some of the images might be too shocking. Read Sylvie's Blogs.
Profiles
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Chantal Ebúbú
Age: 38
Theme: War
After the fighting in Fizi territory, Chantal Ebúbú’s life was forever changed. One day, in 2003, FDD soldiers raided her house and took everything of value. “They took everything including my furniture, my plates, and even my clothes,” she says, “where was I supposed to go without my clothes?”
Chantal’s husband, who was elsewhere on business returned to their house and refused to accept what he saw. Chantal had been raped by the two FDD soldiers that pillaged her house. Her husband, unwilling to stay with “a tainted woman,” left her to raise their four children alone. “In the time of war, I had no peace in my heart,” Chantal says.
Chantal, who had been very hurt during the attack on her house and body, badly needed medical attention. She chose to depict the injuries she suffered after the war, and the subsequent medical attention she received, for her submission to the Ahadi quilt. “ I want testify about the terrible things that have happened in Fizi,” she says.
Onorina Apolina
Age: 44
Theme: Services provided by SOS FED
Before the war, Onorina Apolina says that her life was a good one. Her husband owned a successful fishing business and her family had everything it needed. “We used to have many things, but everything was destroyed,” she says. These days Onorina does not have a house to shelter her family and lives with friends.
After her husband left her, Onorina says that she has difficulty feeding her family. She says that her five children often stay at home and help her farm because she cannot afford their school fees.
Onorina’s tile depicts a man pushing a woman onto a chair. Onorina says that she chose this image because women are threatened by soldiers, “they burn houses, pillage, and attack women causing the problems that have become too common here; women don’t have any rights here,” she says.
Although Onorina says that the situation in Eastern Congo threatens women, she is hopeful. Onorina envisions a future in which she can live peacefully and provide her children with basic necessities. “The situation in Congo can change,” she says, “but it can only change if people want it to change.”
Laliya Byaombe
Age: 26
Theme: war
Laliya Byaombe tells me that she used to feel normal before the war. Since she was raped by three FDD soldiers, her husband abandoned her and her father refuses to see her. Laliya says that she feels isolated because she cannot move on from her experiences; she cannot remarry because everyone in her community knows that she was raped during the war.
Laliya came to SOS FED looking for assistance and a possible way to move on from her past. “When I came to SOS FED I felt normal again,” she says. At long last Laliya found a community and a place where people were willing to accept her despite having survived sexual violence. She found a place where she could share her experiences with other women and draw from their strength.
For her submission to the Ahadi quilt, Laliya chose to depict a spear. Laliya’s village, Mboko, is a Mai-Mai strong-hold. During the early years of fighting the Mai-Mai used spears in their battles. For Laliya, the spear represents the beginnings of the war and the horrors war has brought to her life and to the lives of the people of Fizi.
Sifa Eca
Age: 30
Theme: War
Sifa Eca depicted soldiers fighting because she says that war is what began the suffering in Fizi territory. Since the war began Sifa has suffered from problems she says are common to women in Western Congo. Sifa and her husband farm, but their fields do not yield enough to make ends meet; at the end of a regular day they earn less than a dollar. She says that she often does not have the five to 10 dollars a month needed to send her children to school.
Sifa sought the services of SOS FED because she needed a way to supplement her failing fields. With the help of the communal fields, Sifa can provide more food for her family and alleviate the economic hardship her family has faced. “In the future, I want peace,” she says, “peace will bring female equality and I will have a better way of providing for my children.”
Kashindi Selemani
Age: 28
Theme: Difficulties faced by women who have been raped
Kashindi Selemani is shy. During the war Kashindi survived a blast that blew up her house. Although Kashindi lived, the blast left her eyes permanently damaged despite the intervention of doctors at the refugee camp where she lived in Tanzania. This condition has caused her to lose confidence in herself.
Kashindi’s tile depicts a woman sitting in front of her house pondering what to do in the face of problems she faces in the war. Kashindi said that she aimed to show the utter despair she felt after the attack on her house and the subsequent helplessness she felt as a refugee.
Esther Byussa
Age: 51
Theme: War
Esther Byussa chose to depict a soldier chasing a woman for her tile submission because she said that the project only made her think of the soldier that attacked her. During the war, soldiers forced their way into Esther’s house and killed her mother before raping her. “I want to show the world that war has come for women here,” she says.
Esther says that her only hope is that peace comes to the Congo and that men and women can coexist in peace.
Moza Kakozi
Age: 53
Theme: The Importance of Education and Psychological Therapy
Moza Kakozi’s tile depicts a mother washing her baby. She says she chose this image because women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo need to learn the best ways to keep children healthy. Washing a baby seems basic, but in a place where water is a precious commodity and soap exhausts a family’s finances, this often proves difficult. “I want to show that it is children who suffer the most in Congo,” she says, “ it is necessary for the world to see that our children are often sick and dying because of the lack of education of women.”
The issue of health is also important to Moza personally. Moza’s journey to SOS FED began after she was raped and suffered from physical ailments that she was unable to attend to elsewhere. The rape she suffered still causes her medical problems, but she feels more in control and is happy to receive medical help from SOS FED’s nurse.
Mahombi Useni
Age: 35
Theme: Services Given by SOS FED
Mahombi Useni is one of the more outspoken women at SOS FED, she knows her rights, and she has no problems advocating for herself and for her fellow SOS FED beneficiaries. She chose to depict a soldier begging for forgiveness for her submission to the Ahadi project. Mahombi said that she wants to tell people that because of the education she received from SOS FED, she was able to find the strength to forgive her attackers and to speak up for herself.
Mahombi was raped by soldiers during the war, and like many other rape survivors in Fizi her husband subsequently left her. Mahombi was faced with financial difficulty, especially since soldiers pillaged her home and threw the things they did not want into the river. She felt as though she had nowhere to go, “ I really felt like I had nothing,” she says.
Mahombi would like, with the help of SOS FED, to finally achieve financial independence and provide for her four children in a way she has not been able to since the war. She hopes she can do this thanks to the education services she has benefited from at SOS FED’s center in Mboko.
Naeca Binwa
Age: 43
Theme: War
Naeca’s life was profoundly affected by the war in South Fizi, but her submission addresses something with which she has no experience. Naeca chose to depict militias’ common practice of burning houses even though her home was left in tact. Although removed from her personal experiences, her submission to the project depicts a common occurrence, like rape, that is unfathomable in its cruelty.
Even though the war left Naeca’s house untouched, it managed to destroy everything else in her life. Six soldiers raped her while she worked alone in her fields and soldiers later killed her husband and pillaged her house.
Naeca feels the stigma felt by most survivors of sexual violence in the DRC. “People treat me differently because of my rape; they feel that I am abnormal. It’s only because of SOS FED that I have the courage to say something to someone.”
Marie Jan Kaseke
Age: 42
Theme: Services Given by SOS FED
Marie Jan Kaseke chose to depict the legal and educational services provided by SOS FED for her submission to the Ahadi quilt. Her tile shows SOS FED workers teaching a group of women about their rights. Marie Jan says that rape is a systemic problem that can only be solved by education, and particularly by educating women about their rights.
Marie Jan hopes to improve her economic situation and to continue benefiting from the educational services provided by SOS FED. “With the education I receive, I know I can be an agent of change in the Congo,” she says.
Nyota Assumani
Age: 20
Theme: The Importance of Education and Psychological Therapy
Like many women in rural Fizi territory, Nyota Assumani is illiterate. For many, education has been interrupted by war, the need to travel long distances to schools, or very often the lack of money. Many families in Congo have a large number of children, and families without the funds to educate all of their children choose to send boys to school, while girls stay at home to tend the fields or do housework.
Feeling the disenfranchisement of a lack of education, Nyota, who has a second-grade education, was attracted to SOS FED because of the educational services the organization provides. “ I wanted to improve myself, I wanted to learn,” she said. Nyota now participates in reading classes and can do basic mathematical calculations that will help her in future business endeavors.
Nyota’s submission to the Ahadi quilt depicts two women in an SOS FED classroom. Nyota says that she chose this image because she now knows the importance of education and believes that with education women in the Congo will no longer be left behind. “One day we will have a female president if women are given the chance to learn,” she said.
Sophia Mema
Age: 20
Theme: Sexual Violence
Sophia Mema sought the services of SOS FED because she is illiterate and wanted, more than anything, to learn to read. She also liked the center’s sense of community the idea of learning with other women. Along with an increased reading ability, Sophia also increased her knowledge of human rights; she now participates in protests for women’s human rights along with other SOS FED beneficiaries.
Sophia’s image depicts a woman who is being raped by a soldier. The woman screams, and raises her arms to let people know that she is being attacked, but nobody comes to the woman’s aid. For Sophia, this image signifies the ceaselessness and ubiquity of rape in Eastern Congo. “Raising awareness of this problem is important,” Sophia says, “because when people know what’s going on here, they can tell the government and the government can tell their soldiers to stop raping us.”
Salima Balongelwa
Age: 30
Theme: War
Salima’s journey to SOS FED started after her rape by three soldiers. It was at SOS FED that she found the medical help and counseling she badly needed. “ I had nowhere else to go,” she said.
While many women that benefit from the services of SOS FED, like Salima, worry about their own safety in an area rife with sexual violence, they also worry about the safety of their children. The same soldiers that target women and girls also rely on child soldiers to bolster their numbers. This often means that militias, rebel groups, and even official armies abduct children and force them to travel from village to village fighting their battles. For Salima, a mother of five, the issue of child soldiers was very important to her; her tile depicts soldiers abducting three children. “ I want to say that children have rights too-- children also need to be protected,” she said.
Nyassa Masoka
Age: 30
Theme: Denunciation of Sexual Violence
Nyassa Masoka sought the services of SOS FED because of the strength of community she saw exhibited by beneficiaries. “I was tired of being angry about my rape, and I came here because I saw that people here take care of each other,” she said.
When Nyassa thinks about rape, she says, she thinks about suffering. Nyassa’s image depicts a woman who is suffering due to her rape. Nyassa said that she wants to show people that the consequences of rape are long-lasting. She felt the sting of these consequences, mostly from the other women in her community who mistreated her because of her status as a sexual violence survivor. As a result of this cruelty, Nyassa says she spent her days crying at home. It was only after her involvement with the SOS FED community that Nyassa had the courage to live again.
With her image, Nyassa wants to call on entire communities, not just rape survivors, to denounce sexual violence and the suffering of women.
Rebeka Isisombe
Age: 32
Theme: Denunciation of Sexual Violence
After the death of her husband and her rape at the hands of four soldiers, Rebeka Isisombe sought SOS FED’s services for much needed -counseling. “When I came to SOS FED, they really took care of me,” she says.
Rebeka feels that the rape epidemic in Eastern Congo is caused by the lack of concern for women’s rights. “Our rights need to be respected, just like anyone else’s,” she says. Rebeka’s tile depicts two women protesting because she wants women to know their rights so that they can become more empowered to stop the violations against them.