Breaking The Silence
Did you know? For over a decade now Chou Chou Namegabe has used the radio to shed light on the epidemic of rape and sexual violence in the Congo, shattering the belief that the correct response to rape is silence. According to recent estimates almost 36 women are raped in the Congo every day and as Namegabe said in a recent interview, “the ages of those attacked range from zero to 97.”
The Congo is currently one of the most dangerous places on earth to be female. Plagued by violence, illiteracy and a lack of electricity, radio is one of the main sources of news and information. Namegabe stepped inside a radio station for the first time when she was only 17 years old to play the voice of a young boy in an educational broadcast. “In my country men always have the last word,” said Namegabe, the eldest of 10 children, “I spent all my youth watching it [the radio] from a far,” as the men in her family controlled the stations.
Empowered by her first experience on the radio, Chou Chou Namegabe became a weekly contributor at the station for over a year, doing cooking shows and educational broadcasts. But in 1999 civil war again erupted throughout the country and rebels shut the Mandeleo station down. In 2001, when they finally managed to reopen the station, Namegabe had had enough. Her country was in ruins and women’s bodies had become prime battle grounds in the ongoing war. “Women are the heart of the community, when they are pushed down, the whole community follows,” said Namegabe. She immediately began traveling across the Congo recording the stories of women who had been attacked. The stories too horrific to imagine, or recite here, many victims referred to their attacks as “hell on earth.”
Namegabe knew she had to do more than collect these stories so in 2001 she began to broadcast them. She began to give voice to the voiceless, and raise awareness about sexual violence as a weapon of war. Since she began her broadcasts, her life has constantly been at risk, yet Namegabe says she feels empowered and knows she cannot stop until the attacks on women do as well. In 2003 Namegabe cofounded the South Kivu Women’s Media Association, which works to train and provide resources to aspiring female journalists.
Chou Chou Namegabe is truly an inspiration to people all around the world and proof that women, in any place, no matter how ravaged and chaotic it may be, can change the world.