March 23, 2010. From Congo & Iraq to San Diego: Strategies to Involve Women and Men in Stopping Violence against Women.

A large audience attended the presentations given at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) at USD by Jennifer Freeman, Dilkhwaz Ahmed and Bagira Girukwayo.  Ms. Freeman, who is the Peacemakers' Program Officer at the IPJ, addressed the needs of women in north eastern Ghana who are victims of gender-based violence.   Ms. Freeman also conducted research in Kyaka II, a refugee settlement in Uganda, where she interviewed Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian refugees on their perspectives of human and traditional security threats.  Following Ms. Freeman's training for the police in Ghana, they set up a new division to protect women and to punish the male perpetrators.

Mr. Girukwayo, who is a Congolese national living in Canada,  delivered stories of the violence in Congo that are under-reported.  One story told of a 38 year old man who married a 14 year old girl.  Three months after they married he started to beat her for not cooking and cleaning.  Her family ambushed him and beat him, which is an example of how the people have to take punishment into their own hands as the government does not help.  Men must educate their sons in the home to be good citizens.  Women must be able to restore their self-esteem. Mr. Girukwayo and Ms. Freeman met in Kyaka II.

Ms. Ahmed first came to the U.S. for 11 days around the time of 9/11.  She was granted asylum in the US in 2002.   She applauded the US 2003 invasion of her country, Iraq.  "Women had to shut their mouths and open their legs." She went on to say that there is no excuse for domestic violence in this country (US)  In 2008, she established Community Dialogue for Change, because "each one of us has to be an agent for social change." Women must be safe! There are 55,000 Iraqis now living in El Cajon.  She stressed that education on FGM is vital.