danah posted yesterday about aid efforts to help women in the Congo who have been raped as an act of war. Many require reconstructive vaginal surgery as well as treatment for the AIDS, other STDs, and pregnancies that often come with ritual rapes. According to danah's friend who teaches in the area, there are only two hospitals in the province that can perform the surgeries, and they are rapidly becoming filled to overflowing.

I asked danah if V-Day has been involved in these efforts, and where donations might be sent. This is what she said:

V-Day is not directly involved with what is going on in the Congo. V-Day awards money to people working on local regions who have a specific plan of action to end violence. There are two large projects in Africa, mostly centered around FGM and safe houses for Muslim women (plus tons of local groups that put on productions for their own local needs). To donate to V-Day: http://www.vday.org/contents/action/donate.

In the Congo, DOCS: Doctors on Call for Service works to repair the damage of violence. To donate to DOCS, go to: http://www.docsafrica.org/.

The third option is to directly support what my friend is doing. She is neither working to end violence nor to directly repair the direct results of violence, but to rebuild the communities afflicted by violence by building schools, etc. If you would rather go that route, i could send you her information.

It's a tricky triangulation of issues... how do you work simultaneously to end, support and rebuild? That's one of the reasons that we try to tie together education, economic support, activism and legal issues. But it's definitely hard to build a coalition in this space.

Also, if you get Lifetime at home, the V-Day movie will be airing later this month; this is a great way to see what V-Day does around the world.

So there it is, people. If you can spare a couple of bucks, please consider a donation that will help provide vital care for these women.