on the Congo and cell phones

I just got this update from the Bondage for Freedom organization. If you have a cell phone you should read it.

"We have just returned from a research trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the stories we heard, the situations we saw and the people we met gave us a harrowing insight into a country where over 5.5 million people have been killed in the past 10 – 15 years (that’s the reported figure so potentially it could easily be double this number).

The reason for our trip was to get a first hand account of the mass systematic rape and sexual violence that happens in the Congo. The numbers are hard to gauge and unreliable - whether it is 200,000 women a year or 1 woman every 2 hours it is the fact that the armies are using rape as a weapon of war that counts.


One of the younger women we met was fifteen when her family was killed by the local militia group and she was dragged into the jungle and raped by 10 to 15 men every day for over a year and a half – when she became heavily pregnant they used knives and sticks to try to kill her unborn child and her.


A year later she is still in Panzai hospital which has a specialist unit for vaginal reconstruction. She is completely incontinent and terrified, with no money and nowhere to go.


We met incredible survivors who have set up groups and homes to save women and girls in similar situations, sometimes walking 2-3 days to find them and then carrying them to safety on their own backs.


The conflict in the Congo is complex but in large part down to economics and the fight for control of the land where mines are extracting and selling valuable minerals such as coltan to a lot of very familiar multinational companies. You've heard of blood diamonds? Well these are blood minerals and these minerals are in all of your mobile phones and computers.


We are now planning, creating, learning and gathering people to start an action packed campaign to raise awareness and to support those affected - we hope you'll get involved."

I'm eligible for a cell phone upgrade in two months, but I don't think I'm going to take it. My phone isn't very high-tech but it works beautifully, and despite a few scratches it's in good shape. Refusing one cell phone upgrade doesn't save much coltan or really have any affect on the women in the DR Congo, but it's something I can do, so I'm going to do it.