Global Dispatches
Huffington Post Names Amy Ernst “Greatest Woman of the Day”
Mar 11th
In January, we ran our first Global Dispatch, a recurring feature in which Joyful Heart Foundation showcases the stories of those working around the world to ensure justice and healing for survivors of sexual assault. The first Global Dispatch came from Amy Ernst, a volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country she says is often referred to as “the worst place on earth to be a woman,” where rape is frequently used as a weapon of war. Despite the violence in the region, Amy says she finds hope in the way women create a community of family, strength, love and laughter.
Yesterday, The Huffington Post highlighted Amy in its “Greatest Woman of the Day” column, which is an ongoing series in honor of Women’s History Month. As the column states, the work Amy does with the local non-profit COPERMA would make most people turn away, but she is “determined to confront the issue of rape where the survivors [need] the most help.” It’s great to see HuffPo acknowledge Amy’s efforts and bring greater attention to the situation in the Congo. If you’d like to read more about, follow her blog.
(COPERMA volunteer works with rape survivors in Democratic Republic of the Congo)
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Global Dispatch: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jan 3rd
One of Endhtebacklog.org’s policy focuses is on ensuring justice and healing for survivors of sexual assault. Our work on these issues currently is limited to the domestic arena. However, we cannot ignore the very simple fact that the issues of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and other issues of violence against women, are pervasive and exist around the world.
At Joyful Heart, we envision a community that collectively turns towards these issues—a community that says to a survivor, “We hear you. We believe you. We feel for you. And your healing is our priority.” To that end, we want to acknowledge and honor that we are a part of a larger global community and have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of others around the world.
Today, we’re pleased to introduce a new recurring Backlog Blog feature entitled “Global Dispatches” that will offer first person views from individuals and organizations around the world that address the issues we seek to address. We hope that these updates will inspire our supporters to engage both locally and globally on these issues.
Our inaugural post. comes from Amy Ernst who is currently working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The girls are not doing well. More >
