Mrs. Adèle Safi Kagaradi, Patroness of the 7th Francophonie Games, met yesterday with all the stakeholders in the city working in the field of addressing violence against women. The Patroness took the opportunity to share her personal experiences.
Congolese Adèle Safi Kagaradi was in the spotlight yesterday. Coming to salute those who, like her, fight for the respect of women, the patroness of these Francophonie Games took the opportunity to share her daily life in a poignant testimony.
“There are problems everywhere but at home, it’s more complicated”
The Alpes-Maritimes recorded 13 cases of violence by partners in 2012, which places it in a poor standing. In Congo, the figures are at a different level. More than 300,000 women have been raped since 1996 according to Mrs. Safi Kagaradi, not counting unreported cases. In her country, she has established listening centers. Members of these centers welcome, listen, even bring victims to health centers and hospitals for customary examinations. Her association acts as an awareness raiser in rural areas, “territories” as they say in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Adèle Safi Kagaradi and her volunteers go from village to village to guide and then support morally, medically, and legally the victims. However, she doesn’t use the word “victim,” she prefers the term “survivor.” Her listening centers can even welcome witnesses of tragedies.
The people of the DRC are subjected to Rwandan oppression. Most of the rapes are atrocious. Women can be raped with tools, and numerous other horrors are committed to “destroy the woman.” Some are tortured and buried alive for opposing an “imposed war.” She fiercely defends women’s rights, and consequently “the right to life.” Most Congolese women do not know their rights.
“Our misfortune is that our country is rich”
“Today, we are fragile, but we are strong.” Adèle Safi Kagaradi wants justice for all the women who perished. But not only that. Children and young people are forcibly recruited by armed groups, and she legitimately wants this to stop. “I am the voice of the voiceless who came to [bear witness]. You have to be in this ‘cauldron’ to understand.” In the DRC, even in refugee camps rape exists, which can tear families apart. According to Mrs. Safi Kagaradi, what the people need most are hygiene kits, school supplies, medicine, toys, and genuine support from the international community. “We ask you (the women of the world) to denounce what is being done to us.”
Despite threats to her life and her family, she has no “reason to give up,” and they make her stronger. For her, foreign domination “has been planned.” Indeed, the Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in many minerals, including coltan. The yield of these deposits allows for the production of tantalum, which is used in manufacturing electronic components such as our smartphones or televisions.
However, even though life is hard, she never considered leaving Congo with her children. “I cannot leave my country, I love it.” She has always refused political asylum to remain close to her “sisters.”
