President Obama's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng talks about the tragedy of rape used as a weapon in the war in The Congo

Posted by Susanna at 12:35 PM, Oct 29, 2009 (Comments)

Category: Events

Mr. Desiree Bagula, Social Marginalized, Inc.; Ms. Maya Soetoro-Ng, President Barack Obama's sister; Ms. Lucia Hatch, chairwoman of the Woman's National Democratic Club; and Mr. David Smith, Deputy Director, United Nations Information Centres, Washington, D.C.

"I AM OLD-FASHIONED so I like to read regular newspapers, and through newspapers we can get the message out about the horrific situation in the war torn country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," said Ms. Maya Soetoro-Ng, President Barack Obama's sister, during a speech at Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night, October 28.

Susan Forsyth, who handled the arrangements for the event, and Maya Soetoro-Ng

THE COUNTRY HAS been ravished by a 13-year war, where 5 million people have been killed (www.thegreatestsilence.org), and tens of thousands of women and even 12- and 13-year-old girls have been raped. According to Maya Soetoro-Ng there are at least 60,000 rape victims and 30 percent of them have become infected with HIV/AIDS. She said rape is being used as a weapon by the military and militia in the war.

Ms. Maya Soetoro-Ng speaks at the event at the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C.

MAYA SOETORO-NG became instantly famous when her brother became president of the United States. But she came to the Woman's National Democratic Club as an unaffected, warm and engaging woman with a very good sense of humor. She obviously has the same ardent interest for human rights as her older brother, the president, and her mother Ann Dunham, who was a pioneer in the work of creating microfinance for women in developing countries.

Chanel A. Johnson and Mark Wolf are White House interns

THE MOTHER OF two young children and a teacher, Ms. Soetoro-Ng - called by an associate as "Maya the Mother" and "Maya the Activist" - does charity work and is a member of the boards of five non profit organizations. It was through her Congolese friend Desiree Bagula, a former student at the University of Hawaii, that she got involved in the tragic situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The plan is to build a hospital for the war's rape victims. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited this part of the Congo in an effort to show attention to this horrific situation.

"IT IS A patriarchal society, with repression and no social justice. There is fear in the population. We never had this problem before. We have had 15 years of war. We need peace," said Mr. Bagula, who accompanied Ms. Soetoro-Ng and who also spoke at the WNDC gathering.

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