Open Letter from the Founding President.

ONG TUMAINI YA WA MAMA

To the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; To the Prime Minister of DR Congo; To the Secretary General of the United Nations; Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Parity and Advancement of Women (OSAGI); Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DAES); United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); To the Representation of UN WOMEN in the DRC; To the Representation of the United Nations Population Fund in DR Congo (UNFPA); To the Representation of UNICEF in DR Congo; To the representation of the Commission of the European Union in DR Congo; To the representative office of the Department of International Development/ UKaid (DFID) in DR Congo;

In the office of the Director USAID in DR Congo; To the Chair of the African Union Committee; To the Ministry of Family, Gender and Child of the DR Congo; To the Ministry of Social Affairs, Humanitarian Operations and National Solidarity; To the Federation of Congo Enterprises To religious denominations and national and international non-governmental organizations; To the women, girls and teenagers of the DR Congo; Dear women and men of good will; Dear People of the Earth;

The blood-fed wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo for more than a decade have raised an unprecedented gender issue. For women, girls and teenagers have, compared to men, experienced the horrors of these wars with their share of ignominious blunders differently. Making DR Congo, the world’s rape capital.

Undeniably, the use of rape as a weapon in our communities was so horribly devastating to the Congolese female population that the concern raised by national and international NGOs, the media, men and women of goodwill eventually awakened the global consciousness. As the aftermath of ontologically identified tears, the psychological and material poverty, the devastation of pandemic and other diseases (HIV, AIDS and others) constitute the daily lot for women, young girls and adolescents of the DR Congo, victims of rape and its repercussions. It is our responsibility as a nation to repair and re-integrate hope (Tumaini, in Swahili) in our Congolese communities! It would be immoral to allow desperation to take hold of human lives and to envision these women living dead under our watch. Our indifference would be a heinous crime just as, if not worse than the sexual abuse that we disapprove of in Congo-Kinshasa.

Dear citizens, people of the earth, it will now be necessary to take effective action to eradicate from the DR Congo this anciently barbaric culture, which has unfortunately survived the periods and endemic zones of these wars and has infected homes in our cities and villages.

TUMAINI YA WA MAMA (meaning here: hope for our mothers), remains and will remain a non-profit association made up of members committed to this noble mission. Rape and all forms of violence based on Gender (VBG) is a sensitive and unmentionable offense that touches us deeply at Tumaini. We decided to take action, and we call on every woman and man of goodwill to join us in this fight. This NGO is an environment to design and guide our actions on the field for tangible results. To restore in the Congolese woman her confidence, dignity, health, balance and psycho-social and economic empowerment. To consistently uplift her in order to ensure successful social re-integration.

Legal framework Dear all, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security at the International Level; the Maputo Protocol; the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo; The National Strategic Plan to Combat Gender-Based Violence (PNVBG) are legal instruments within our reach for co-ordinated and legal action in solidarity with other international, regional and state structures engaged in the same fight.

Regarding Resolution 1325, DR Congo has developed an action plan for its implementation in Kimpa vita. This is the 1325 Action Plan Nation, PAN 1325, which revolves around four main axes including: Participation, Prevention, Protection and Recovery.

TUMAINI YA WA MAMA's priority area Amongst so many axes of battles stopped by my country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, TUMAINI YA WA MAMA of which I am the founder, intends to focus on the SURVEY OF VICTIMS, i.e, women and young girls victims of rape and all forms violence based on gender. The INTEGRAL RECOVERY which, in the understanding of TUMAINI YA WA MAMA, refers to the psycho-mental, physiological and sanitary reparation and psycho-social guidance for the social reintegration that follows, is not yet complete. Here the concern of many non-governmental organizations operating in DR Congo, has unfortunately been found. This is the starting point for our intervention in this vast field of action for the cause.

The long-term and costly nature of victim recovery would be an obstacle for NGOs whose action plans are restricted in a very specific period with a naturally limited budget.

Many of these organizations engage in ad hoc actions for which they draw up accounts and factual assessments for donors and taxpayers, most of whose indicators for verifying expected results are not predefined. While the drama experienced by these women is rather existential and could not be repaired in a morning of distribution of food and other vital necessities, let alone at the end of a national forum on gender, a women’s month demonstration or assistance to a UN conference on gender.

This is why TUMAINI YA WA MAMA remains more than motivated to provide an effective response to the problem of "existential recovery" of women victims of rape and / or other forms of gender-based violence with a method of its own.

Dear all,

The socio-material deprivation in which these women live in my country is a consequence of the psycho-mental inertia leading to amnesia of will to action, causing cognitive and reflexive paralysis, lack of self-esteem as well as the loss of self-confidence, thus encroaching on freedom. Whereas reflective and cognitive thinking, self-confidence and freedom are undeniable predispositions that nature endowed each human being for the realization of his being (his becoming) and his effective participation, free from self-marginalization and social indexation, as a member of a human society and not a rejection of the community. Healing this form of poverty requires a multidimensional approach that would fall under the jurisdiction of the state. On the other hand, the national budget of the State allocated to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Humanitarian Actions and National Solidarity does not allow public services to take charge of these social cases, not even those of extreme urgency. But, we must act on this immediately. The number of victims to this cause is increasing drastically and a social class of pariahs of society is in the making...

In Lubumbashi, where TUMAINI YA WA MAMA has carried out an ad hoc survey, it is clear that the public services of the State are overwhelmed and deprived of resources causing them to direct indigents of all kinds to NGOs...

While these particular organizations, in their turn, wait for the Ministry of Guardianship for subsidies to support the State, which is primarily responsible for its population. Vicious cycle describes the lack of will or better the notoriously insufficient capacity of the State and the NGOs to take action: to repair and therefore to RECOVER.

TUMAINI YA WA MAMA, aware of this situation, intends to develop a methodological approach to address the challenge of reparation (recovery) and thus contribute to the reintegration of female victims whose psycho-mental and economic atomization to the indicators of verifications of clearly predetermined results remains the culmination, the ultimate goal. This is for a society that is much more just, inclusive and less discriminatory. For, as it is said, if "in every human being there is a hero who can rule the whole world," in a woman, even a victim of rape, there are many hidden. Lifting it up and repairing it, it restores all humanity.

Dear citizens of the world,

For the sake of the human race, do not hesitate to join us by becoming a member of honor; by making your contribution either by interacting ideas on our social networks, via web chat, via email or at our offices or in material and financial means, through the mechanisms set up for this purpose. Together, we can build an inclusive world where equality and justice can be achieved.

Ms. Kenza Gbwa, Présidente fondatrice