The author of A Thousand Sisters, Lisa Shannon, is such an inspiring writer. She had a normal, perfect life until she watched an episode on Oprah Winfrey’s show about the women of Congo. Congo women often get raped and their husbands and children killed. I find it very difficult to compare the Congolese women to our society or anyone. However, I can empathize with the Congolese women because I have also experienced a loss of dignity through sexual violence and other abuse. Lisa Shannon as a human seems very amazing.
After her father’s death she realized she felt an emptiness in her life and wanted to make a difference. Then she saw the episode on Oprah and began to recognize the Congo problems, so she began the Run for Congo. As she becomes more invested in the conflict going on in the Congo she thought it would be beneficial to visit the place. When she got there she realized the severity of the disadvantages of the Congo women. They live in villages and get attacked randomly. Women get raped by five to six men and in most cases the husbands reject them.
Some women have seen their husbands and children get killed and they cannot do anything about it. As for my life, I thought that having overprotective parents was horrible so I got married behind their backs when I turned 18. Little did I know that what I would experience would change my life. Since the first day of my marriage, I began getting physical abused, that continued as well as the emotional abuse. I could no longer talk to anyone not even my family. One thing I made sure was that I never stopped attending school, even if my so called husband would be outside the door peeking inside every five minutes.
I was a prisoner for many months and I can relate to the Congo Women who feel like prisoners in their own villages, they do not have the freedom to go outside at night. Safety is one thing we women desire. This husband of mine would be next to me all the time, one occasion I tried running away but he ran me over with the car. The other occasion, he was driving and hurting me at the same time so I opened the door and threw myself out the car, while he drove over 55mph. Both times I failed, I just injured myself, and made him even angrier.
In comparison with a Congolese woman, she states “I tried to escape, to run, but they caught me… ” (143). I know exactly how that feels, we have both tried to escape danger but we are not that strong alone. | understand the pain women go through in Congo, even if my life has been a bit easier than theirs, I have hurt my dignity. After ten months of a horrible marriage, November 21, 2010 in a public parking, my so called husband was angry at me for getting into a terrible car accident.
He began choking me, and put a knife to my neck, I do not remember exactly what I did but I did scream until the cops got there. I denied everything, so they let us go, and the police escorted me to my family’s house and I stayed there. As I look back at my denial, I can find similarities with the Congolese women. For example in page 164, when Lisa asks the women “how many of you have been raped? ” a few hands go up then quickly retreat. These women won’t talk about sexual violence in public, I am exactly the same way. After the incident, I wanted to flee from my experience so | went to Mexico.
My parents supported me on my trip but not knowing what I had been through, and arranged my aunt to watch over me for a couple of weeks in Mexico. Once I got there on a Sunday, my aunt had plans and I was left alone. I wanted to go out and walk around the “pueblo”, to get some fresh air. I went into “la tiendita” to buy snacks and when I came out there were a group of guys. One of the guys I recognized, my cousins friend, I felt safe so I went with them. I did not feel danger, until they all forced me into this dark place, my cousins friend raped me, as the others laughed.
This relates with the story of the young woman who said her story to Lisa; “They laid me down and started to rape me. They used a piece of cloth to wipe. When one finished, he wiped with the same cloth… ” (143). Unfortunately, the young women stayed laying with her legs open. I in the other hand only got raped by one person, not the whole group. At the end, my cousin’s friend took me back to my aunts, and I ran inside. I remained quiet, never told anyone, after this incident I pleaded to my aunt to send me back.
She did not know why I was in such a rush to leave, and she never found out. Once I came back to the states, I became very isolated and was scared of doing anything. After time, I began attending a church and felt God’s love. Until this day, these are secrets that no one knows about. The Congolese women and I are victims of abuse. Luckily, Lisa did do many good contributions to the women who have suffered in Congo. Lisa Shannon was able to give a voice to the Congolese women through her book. As a result, she inspired me to share my story with you.
