Valerie* tiene 16 a\u00f1os, es madre de un beb\u00e9 de 4 meses y v\u00edctima de una violaci\u00f3n. Cuando s\u00f3lo ten\u00eda 14 a\u00f1os, unos soldados que patrullaban por la carretera de acceso a la ciudad la cogieron por la fuerza y la agredieron sexualmente. Temerosa del estigma que conlleva la violaci\u00f3n, lo mantuvo en secreto.<\/p>\n
In Valerie\u2019s hometown of Bweremana in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), gender-based violence is often regarded as a nuisance instead of a serious and life-altering crime. When Valerie finally returned home, she was too ashamed to tell anyone what had happened, but it soon became obvious that she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
People in her town began to mock her, jeering, \u201cWhere is the father?\u201d The teasing became so bad that she refused to leave the house.<\/p>\n
It is because of girls like Valerie that ADRA operates Ongea, a project named for the literal meaning of the Swahili word ongea: \u201cspeak up.\u201d Ongea encourages women to speak up against rape and sexual assault and against the people who perpetrate and condone it. In addition to supporting victims of gender-based violence, Ongea strives to combat the prevailing cultural attitude that enables it.<\/p>\n
By creating listening committees comprised of community members, and counseling groups of influential local leaders, ADRA has developed a system to value women and devalue crimes against them. Ongea also spreads awareness through radio broadcasts and cultural activities.<\/p>\n
This project has galvanized the women of Bweremana, many of whom feel empowered for the first time in their lives. \u201cI want to combat gender-based violence,\u201d said local listening group member Vomili Ngengeisi. \u201cI want to help girls like Valerie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though still suffering from the trauma of her experience, Valerie has hope that Ongea will continue to speak up against gender-based violence in her community. Of her own future, she is modest: \u201cI dream about finding a husband who will love me.\u201d<\/p>\n
*Name has been changed to protect her identity.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Valerie* tiene 16 a\u00f1os, es madre de un beb\u00e9 de 4 meses y v\u00edctima de una violaci\u00f3n. Cuando s\u00f3lo ten\u00eda 14 a\u00f1os, unos soldados que patrullaban por la carretera de acceso a la ciudad la cogieron por la fuerza y la agredieron sexualmente. Temerosa del estigma que conlleva la violaci\u00f3n, lo mantuvo en secreto.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1055,785,615,807,594],"tags":[773,690,1086,754,1020],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy-policy","category-africa","category-blog","category-dr-congo","category-education","tag-gender","tag-protection","tag-pseah-protection-from-sexual-exploitation-abuse-and-harassment","tag-safeguarding","tag-womens-empowerment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47686,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/47686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}