Founded in 1983, COPERMA is an all-Congolese NGO working in rural North Kivu whose isolated villages have been devastated by the war, raids by soldiers, sexual violence, and the overall breakdown of society.
I chose COPERMA because they are a small grassroots NGO doing heroic work with few resources. Working with them offered a cultural understanding of the problems facing their communities and country. COPERMA works with survivors and communities, sheltering and supporting them.
Many survivors are women and young girls who have been socially ostracized, sometimes left alone to care for the baby that resulted from the rape. Other young survivors are orphaned from the violence.
COPERMA works to reintroduce survivors back into society with some semblance of security and independence and without discrimination towards their unwarranted suffering. By creating petit commerce, farming, schools for children, training centers for “girl mothers,” and training committees in each village how to educate others about critical issues of trauma, women’s rights, and health, COPERMA is empowering communities to organize themselves instead of waiting for the crippled government to offer security and justice.
COPERMA and the people of the DRC shared their passionate resilience and their thirst for a brighter future. I left convinced that the Congo can and will thrive if it receives the support of the global community.
This photo project allows Congolese struggling to rebuild their lives something their own country has not – a change for justice by sharing their personal story with the rest of the world.
