Ituri: medical consultations, women's football and cultural exchanges on the menu for 8 March 2023

In Bunia, on 8 March 2023, peacekeepers from MONUSCO's Bangladeshi contingent organized a free medical consultation at Ndromo camp (Ituri). Photos MONUSCO / Lilianne Nyatcha

16 Mar 2023

Ituri: medical consultations, women's football and cultural exchanges on the menu for 8 March 2023

Lilianne Nyatcha

Forty women survivors of sexual violence were made aware of the empowerment of women on 8 March. The police component (UNPOL) of MONUSCO, which carried out this activity in Bunia in the province of Ituri, on the fringes of Women's Month, wants to help these women survivors of rape to take charge of their lives and provide for their needs. They have been trained in popcorn making, a trade that they can use as an income-generating activity.

Also, on the sidelines of this celebration, peacekeepers from the Bangladeshi contingent of MONUSCO also organized a free medical consultation in Bunia at the vocational training centre at Camp Ndromo, a camp that hosts all MONUSCO military contingents. Some 60 women from the Bunia region who benefited from this initiative were delighted with it, as it helped to strengthen ties with the population.

Four doctors, including a psychiatrist, were assigned to this operation. Some of the people who consulted received free medication and others were referred to various local health facilities.

In the locality of Gina, also in Ituri province, the women peacekeepers of the Nepalese contingent played a friendly football match against the women of the locality as part of World Women's Rights Day. A symbiotic moment that attracted many inhabitants. This match was placed under the sign of peace and community cohesion.

The match, which ended in victory for the women of Gina, was also a moment of cultural exchange with the presentation of traditional dances from Nepal and the DRC. Poems in honour of women and messages of peace, unity and awareness for the improvement of women's rights were also delivered.

After Gina, the Nepalese contingent also organised a cultural exchange programme in Fataki on 13 March to promote social cohesion, also in the framework of the World Women's Rights Day.

Fifty-five members of the Lendu, Hema, Alur, Ngiti, Mungala communities (including eleven men) attended the celebration. In her speech, the chairwoman of the Fataki women leaders said that 'the women of the entity are tired of conflict'.

She also denounced the violence they suffer such as rapes, murders, abductions, sexual exploitation to name but a few in Djugu territory. The president of Fataki women encouraged women to make their voices heard for the implementation of the PDDRCS process which will help to mitigate violence against women.