Kates Post

What is happening in Congo right now is horrible. I don believe that the situation will get any better because we are not doing any thing about it. I think we should focus more of are attention on Congo soon. its not going to get any better unless people help out.

Congo --Kimo

To put it quite simply-What Zack said. Earlier this year, on a hot, boring day, I went to cnn.com to see what the headlines were. There, I saw a forest fire, an election update or two, a study on social trends. And in the corner, just a blurb, "Congo Crisis Worsens." Now, a few months later, I am still amazed at how little stride has been made towards something that has been called a crisis. Africa is not just some floating rock. There are real people there, who experience real pain and are being treated with very real and inhumane cruelties. We need to get over ourselves and act.

Ty's post

From what I've heard from others, I think that Congo isn't going to get any better from what we are doing now. We are sending UN peacekeepers, but they will not make the problem disappear. Sometimes a force is required to make something disappear and we need people fighting or pushing the bad guys away. I think that violence isn't always the right answer but for something like this, violence may be needed to stop all of these horrible things from happening instead of sending child soldiers, and peacekeepers.

Zack's Post

It is an interesting perception that just because something is not a part of main stream media nobody knows or cares. Contrary to many of my classmates I already knew about the horrific events in the Congo and about everything that is already being done there. It is hard for me to continue to dredge up the same feelings of horror that I had in me in July but it is no less terrible that such violence is allowed to happen. I feel terrible about the rape and murder but it is just as terrible that we have been able to sit here with our Starbucks and iPhones and designer clothes and ignore the cries of help that have been coming from that God forsaken country for so long so we can sit here and complain about inflation. If we want violence that in the Congo to end we need to bridge the gap between first and third worlds or wrongly assume the right to control of the entire planet and regulate all people for our own ends.

I apologize for sounding cynical.

Parker's Post

What is happening in the DRC is horrific. I don't think we're paying close enough attention to it, mainly since our situation in Afghanistan/Iraq is getting progressively worse, but another reason would be western society just does not care. Since genocide has been going on in Africa for numerous years, we take their lives for granted. They are people, like you and me, that are getting brutally murdered everyday. Also, I'm sure the majority of western society doesn't even know what the DRC is, let alone what's happening at this very second. Africa just isn't as newsworthy as Angelina adopting a new baby, or Jessica Simpson gaining a few pounds.

Olivia's post

No one should be forced to do anything, especially children. Childrens' minds aren't developed enough yet to see that what people are making them do is wrong. It's sad to see someone who has so much potential to be turned into a weapon against others. Children will do anything anybody says, and maybe they will notice something isn't right with the situation, but they are afraid of what will happen to them if they run away. They will most likely grow up to be outcasts of society, and of course some will probably go to therapy, but that will only help some. Some of them will never be helped.

Anna's post

In my opinion, we are absolutely not doing enough to help with the situation in Congo. In a time when jet planes soar across the sky and money is thrown into violence like dirt, it appalls me that America has done nothing drastic to help this growing issue. We have the means, the money, and the knowledge necessary to solve the issue, yet we continue to prioritize wrongly. This issue is more important than the economy. It is more important than war machines and immigrant systems; it is genocide, and everyone deserves a chance to live.

Gabe's Post

I feel much remorse for these children. They are forced to give up their childhood for a worthless war, and are brutally beaten if they disagree. They are slaves for no reason and no cause.

Hannah's Post :)

Like a lot of other kids in the ninth grade I knew only a little bit about the Congo crisis. But after learning all of this information over the last few days, I feel awful. The thought of children being drugged and trained to be solders is unthinkable and it is really disgusting. Obviously this situation is going to get worse before it gets better and I think the United States should help. I believe that we have the power to change some lives and help people in this rough situation.

Scarlet:

I could not agree more with Lydia. I had heard very little about the situation in Congo before this assignment. I definitely think that if we spread the word of the tragedies that are happening everyday in Congo, more people would help. My group's question was, "Are the world leader's doing enough to help the crisis?". As Tristan rightly said, "They are obviously not doing enough because it's still going on." We have the power to fix this situation, it just depends on the world's perseverance to begin helping.

Lydias post

Like many people, I was astounded at how little I knew about the situation in the Congo. I would expect something as horrific and important as this would make its way onto a news station, but I hadn't heard anything about it until we were given our assignment. It makes me wonder if perhaps if this situation was more publicized, we might be doing more to help. No one will donate money or volunteer their time to an organization if they know nothing about it. The action we need to take is to make people more aware of the violence occurring in the DRC, which will then inspire people to help the poor citizens of this war-torn country. 

Eleanor's Post

  Before being asked to research the Congo by Mr. Williams I only knew it as a country in Africa. However everyday hundreds of women and girls are raped, hundreds of small children are sent to war, drugged and beaten to make them stay, and hundreds are dying from violence and raids which is destroying their homes and families. Sarah and I were in charge of searching for NGO's, non-government organizations, and their were literally hundreds. This makes we wonder why there is still all of this pain and suffering happening to those mostly innocent citizens of the Congo. Little did I realize there is a difference. In the dark night of the war a candle is shining through and with a bit more wax this light can shine stronger, and brighter than ever before. 

Tristan's Post!

I researched special cases of assault on women and children in the Congo, and I must say that the information we discovered was downright horrible. I won't go in to detail about what we found, but suffice it to say that soldiers use rape as a military tactic to scare villages into compliance. This research threw a lot of my problems into a different perspective, and now I don't really care as much about my problems, because I know that until someone does something, people will constantly suffer in the DRC. On that note, our conversation with Mr. Nduaka escalated from the concept of helping the Congo, to the concept of global unity to stop suffering. This made me realize if every single person forgets their little problems, than we can fight to live together in a peaceful world.

Ceilie's Post

I was surprised last week when Mr. Williams explained to us that we would be researching the "Crisis in Congo" before the Moral Leadership speaker came to talk to us. I am usually fairly educated on current events due to the eavesdropping I tend to pay on my mother's favorite radio station that is often the soundtrack to her morning, but Congo is a name I hadn't really heard be the basis of any news discussions or even pop up in global updates. Once I learned about what was going on in this country, I was simply horrified. Between the offensive treatment to women to the abuse brought upon the innocent children, it disgusted me. I thought that from past experiences such as the Holocaust and war that people had learned to turn the other cheek when it came to hate and violence targeted at a specific group of people, but I guess it'll take some more progression for the whole of the world to finally make their peace with each other. 

Kyle's Post

It was only recently brought to my attention the events that are happening in the DRC. I was surprised that I didn't know about it earlier because some of the things happening there are horrendous and I would have expected this to be a worldwide catastrophe, much like the Holocaust. I find it sad that people don't want anything to do with Africa simply because its Africa. People are dying and yet we sit here doing nothing. I understand that many countries have their hands full with various things, America especially, but I believe that if everyone made a collective effort than we could all make a difference there and show the peoples of Africa that we do truly care for them. Regardless what plan of action the UN takes to solve this, if they are even going to, we need to do something quickly and efficiently to stop this violence and quest for power.

Julie's Post

As children, we are taught to be nice, to care for others, and to think of others before yourself. In Congo today, adults are killing each other, abusing innocent little children, and instead of teaching their kids to be nice, they're teaching them how to hold guns. How did this happen? Why all this hate? Why did our world suddenly turn around and become a cloud of hatred? Unfortunatly, no one does enough to help and those who care are not too many. We must stop such cruel acts and such horrible violence because it's not going to get us anywhere!

Caroline's Post

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, people die everyday. These people are dying physically, emotionally, and mentally. Everyday, soldiers kill families, and those whom they don’t kill are kidnapped. People can also breakdown emotionally because they have lost hope. Many families have died, and like Ferdinand in The Tempest, people know that all they have ever loved is gone. Lastly, people no longer have a choice. You die, become a soldier, or become a slave. People become confined within, because they are scarred to share what they have to say. I know that I will never understand what these people are going through. I want to help, but I don’t know how. What is currently happening in Congo is devastating. The fact that no one has done anything to end it is even more heartbreaking.

Anna's Confinement Post

In many ways, I agree with Zach. Confinement is everywhere; in our jobs, in our physical capabilities, in our economic state. It surrounds us, and perhaps I feel it most when I am bogged down with work to do. I hate the feeling of pressure of lengthy requirements, eating away at my time. However, on a different note, there are parts of us that are not at all confined. Our minds, our hearts, and our souls are free to do as the please, to wander wherever they like. Perhaps the biggest challenge we face is to transfer this freedom of our inner-selves into our day to day lives. When looked at with the right perspective, there are no limitations in life. If it was what we wanted, truly and deeply, we could look beyond the boundless limits of sky and earth. We could escape confinement.

Sarahs Post=]

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a lot of children and women are being abused and treated poorly. Women are sexually harassed in the dusty streets, children are beaten and drugged, and it truly breaks my heart hearing about these cruel, heartless gestures. If I had the chance to speak to a representative in Congo, I would have a lot to say. I think it's great that someone is finally starting to take charge, but it's far too late. You can't erase the harsh memories that are already tainted into young abused childrens' minds. You can't erase the sexual abuse thats already happened to young girls and boys. You can't erase drugs from a childs mind. All of these harsh things remain in each and every persons life that it happens to. 

Timmy's Post

I tend to feel confined almost all of them time because of my diet. Whenever I see someone eating something wheaty and delicious, I think to myself how great it would be to eat something like that, but I only eat things that are gluten-free (usually) and healthy (generally). Knowing that I can't even choose what I want to eat makes me feel very confined. The annoying thing is that I know that if I do eat something gluten-y, I will pay the consequences, and that is what makes me feel the most confined because now matter what I do, I will either be gluten-deprived or uncomfortable.