reactions The United Nations has stated that the DRC is the centre for the use of rape as a weapon of war, with one study finding that 48 women are raped every hour. In 2009 Eve Ensler travelled to the DRC, and having spoken to survivors of their need for a place to heal proposed the, City of Joy. In 2011, V-Day, in association with Fondation Panzi (DRC), opened the City of Joy. The centre is located in Bukavu, and treats 180 survivors of gender related violence per year. Leah Chishugi, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, traveled to the DRC. Upon discovering the mass rapes which were ongoing she began to document testimony from survivors. In a two-month period she interviewed up to 500 survivors of sexual assaults. The youngest victim was just one year old, and the eldest was 90 and one victim, aged 14, had already given birth twice, having been forcibly impregnated. Chishugi founded the charity Everything is a Benefit which campaigns on behalf of the survivors of the victims of rape and other human rights abuses during civil conflicts. In 1997, doctor Rachel Kembe, with five other professional women founded the Association nationale des mamans pour l’aide aux déshérités (ANAMAD, National Mothers’ Association to Aid the Dispossessed). By 2007 the centre was treating 2500 survivors of rape, but Kembe has said "the number keeps growing". ANAMAD has constructed housing for up to 30 IDPs and their families, but says they require more funding as their resources are inadequate. Denis Mukwege and his co-workers have treated an estimated 30,000 survivors of rape since the start of the conflicts. He has reported that women have been shot in the genitals following an assault, and others have had chemicals poured over their genitals following rapes. He believes the use of rape is an "effective strategy" as people are forced to flee their homes and land. Documentary maker, Fiona Lloyd-Davies, released Seeds of Hope at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. See also Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Rape during the Sierra Leone Civil War Rape during the Rwandan genocide Footnotes References Bibliography Congo Violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Women in the Democratic