COFAPRI brings you a message from the children of the Democratic Republic of Congo....
Desperate, because they are born to raped mothers, they have no fathers and society discriminates against them, as well as their mothers.
The culture, traditions, morals, and main beliefs of the grassroots remain a strong pillar in whatever they do.
Consulting them in their natural environment can reveal more than we could know if we only sat in offices waiting for news from people other than the grassroots themselves.
COFAPRI believes that gender imbalance needs to be addressed in economic development, in the context of reducing DRC women’s acute poverty – particularly in remote villages....
Such unbalance often culminates into the horrible story of rapes that we are experiencing today.
COFAPRI co-founder, Bahati Valérie, met up with a former child solder in DRC. The boy told her:
"Most of them joined as fighters while still children... and they had never experienced sexual activity. Now they have guns, they have power over women and girls.
Witch doctors told them to rape many women; old, young and children, so as to get extra power..."
COFAPRI is based in Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Rupublic of Congo.
The organisation empowers women through encouraging income-generating activities such as sewing and knitting projects, and the rearing of livestock.
COFAPRI also sponsors the education of children and provides them with school equipment.
