BUKAVU, Democratic Republic of Congo — It was the silence of the traumatized young women she saw before her that convinced dance teacher Amina Lusambo she must do something to help.
So she set up dance sessions for rape survivors at a rehabilitation center attached to Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, in eastern Congo, which according to hospital authorities has treated more than 60,000 survivors of sexual violence in its some 20 years of operation.
Congo’s eastern borderlands have remained gripped by violence since the official end of a civil war in 2003, with armed groups fighting for land, resources and self-protection.
“I started doing this because of the gi…
Keep on reading: Dance helps Congo’s rape survivors cope with trauma