The university chapters of the global organizations V-Day and the anti-genocide organization STAND held an educational lecture Tuesday to raise awareness about ongoing violence against women in eastern Congo.
The lecture, called the Congo Teach-In, was organized by V-Day treasurer Tara Rhoades as a part of a national awareness campaign called “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource.”
Congo is this year’s spotlight cause for V-Day. Previous spotlight issues have included Afghani women, women of New Orleans, and women of Iraq.
V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls. It is best known on campus for presenting the Vagina Monologues. It raises money and awareness for local and global causes. Last year, the university chapter raised $1,500 for forensic nurse examiners at Christiana Care, Roads said.
This is the first year the university’s chapter hosted an educational event. Roads said she hopes the event will raise awareness about violence.
“A lot of people have heard of the Congo in vague terms, but don’t understand the root or extent of it,” she said.
Representatives of V-Day lectured students about the history of war in Congo, the roots of the conflict and the repeated pattern of sexual violence as a military tactic. Members also retold first-hand accounts from survivors of sexual assault.
Roads said the lecture is available upon request to any organization planning to hold a Congo Teach-In lecture.
“People like us who aren’t experts can host an event and make people aware,” she said.
Besides raising awareness among students, Roads said the Congo Teach-In helped V-Day reach out to other organizations on campus. Members of the university chapter of Amnesty International were in attendance, and members of UD STAND helped promote the lecture.
STAND President Lara Rump said the organization hopes to pick up where V-Day left off and to continue the awareness raising campaign
Rump spoke about outlining future plans to organize events about violence in the Congo. She said she expects to bring a panel of journalists and other experts on the conflict to the university in early November in a program called “Raise Hope for the Congo.” She said she hopes students who are not members of STAND will become involved and inform their friends.
“I want people to say, ‘Do you know what’s going on?’ ” Rump said.
She said she hopes students take their awareness and use it as a call for action. She encourages students to write to their congressmen about the Congo.
Junior Meredith Stuart is not a member of STAND or V-Day, but she said she has become highly interested in the Congo violence after participating in a research project on the topic last fall. She said the first-hand accounts of violence were the most memorable part of the Congo Teach-In.
“They’re very vivid,” Stuart said. “It sticks in my head.”
Junior Lucy Fox said she was also most impacted by the personal stories.
“You can hear a third party talk,” Fox said. “But when you listen to the accounts, it’s moving.”
Fox said the Congo Teach-In was the first time she really learned about violence in the Congo. After listening to the lecture, she said she plans to get involved.
Roads said the Congo Teach-In is the last purely educational event on the V-Day calendar. Future events, while intended to promote causes, are more for entertainment, she said. The next event is “Big O Bingo,” which is intended to encourage women to take control of their own sexuality, she said.
The year’s primary event is the Vagina Monologues. V-Day hopes to repeat previous years’ successes in raising money. The money goes to benefit the Congo.
“People know that we put on the Vagina Monologues,” Roads said. “Performance is a good way to make people aware.”
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