I've been getting a lot of e-mails today about my piece on 60 Minutes last night. It was a story about what's happening to women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Watch Anderson's story from 60 Minutes)The war that has plagued Congo for much of the last 10 years has been largely ignored by the rest of the world. It's actually the deadliest conflict since World War Two. More than 4 million people have died, and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped.
Most of the rapes are gang rapes, and they are extraordinarily brutal. Many women have had objects inserted into their vaginas -- broken bottles, bayonets, some women have even been shot between the legs.
Some of you may remember I went there last year for CNN. We did several broadcasts from Congo. I went back a couple months ago for CBS and sadly not much of anything has improved. In fact the fighting has resumed and it only seems to be getting worse.
I met one woman named Lucienne M'Maroyhi. She was raped by six soldiers. They made her brother hold a flashlight and watch her being raped. They then tried to get him to rape his sister, but he refused. They stabbed him to death in front of her.
She was held for eight months and raped everyday. She escaped, but her husband abandoned her, and she gave birth to a child -- a child of one of the soldiers who raped her. She named the beautiful little girl "Luck" because she feels lucky to be alive.
Lucienne is now enrolled with an organization called Women for Women, they help survivors of rape around the world. I've gotten a lot of e-mails from viewers asking how they can help. One way is to contact Women for Women. Here is their website:
http://www.womenforwomen.org/and here are some other related links:
International Rescue Committee Aid In Congo
Thank you for all your e-mails. People need to know what's happening in Congo. These women deserve to have their stories known, they want people to understand what they are going through.
