“Let’s pay attention to 1 one other.”
That is what the phrase toyokana means in Lingala, an area language within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On the Toyokana Heart within the capital metropolis of Kinshasa, listening is their mission. It is a facility for ladies to return to be handled after sexual assault — and likewise to be heard.
“Creating this sort of a secure house was actually the primary demand from these ladies,” says Loa Falone, a social employee on the heart.
After years of working with younger ladies, Falone has seen that many instances of sexual violence happen inside households. “A lady who was raped by her father will not know in whom she will confide, whether or not her mother or another person, she simply will not know if she will really feel secure to do this,” says Falone. “There was actually a powerful need to have a secure house the place these ladies will probably be heard, protected and brought care of.”
The thought for the Toyokana heart grew out of a 2022 gathering of 100 ladies and younger ladies from all corners of the DRC and a number of other different African nations. For 3 days, the contributors — ages 13 to 24 — mentioned the challenges they confronted. Sexual violence saved arising.
“Nearly all of these ladies have been both survivors of sexual violence or they have been in very shut proximity,” says Ramatou Toure, chief of kid safety at UNICEF DRC who helped manage the ladies discussion board. “I am speaking sister, mom, cousin of a kid who had been abused.”
That anecdotal sense is backed up by a report from UNICEF that implies the issue has solely grown worse. “Sexual violence towards youngsters has been on the rise for the previous 4 years,” says Toure. Final 12 months, greater than 45,000 instances of sexual violence towards youngsters have been recorded, she says, although the true toll is probably going a lot increased due to a reluctance to return ahead or simply not having an grownup they really feel they’ll speak in confidence to.
NPR sought remark from the DRC authorities concerning the report, however they didn’t reply questions in time for publication.
Largely, ongoing battle in elements of jap DRC is driving the rise, says Toure. Combating has compelled about 7 million individuals from their houses to camps the place rape is widespread, she says. “However even in provinces the place there is no such thing as a battle, we discover sexual violence.”
Right here, as elsewhere, city poverty and youngster marriage contribute to the issue. Many perpetrators go unpunished too, says Toure, creating a way of helplessness that results in silence.
“There’s this sense that they will be unable to return ahead, they will be unable to talk,” says Toure. “Sadly, it additionally signifies that they will be unable to get the providers that they want.”
A secure house
That is the place Toyokana Heart is available in. It is cited within the UNICEF report for example of a optimistic step the federal government has taken to handle the issue.
Among the ladies who come to the middle want direct medical consideration for bodily trauma. Psychological help can be obtainable for victims who develop extreme melancholy, post-traumatic stress and anxiousness. Going by way of that alone will be extremely isolating, says Annie Kikoli, a therapist in Goma, DRC.
A baby who’s been raped “tells herself that, nicely, I endured this occasion, so which means I am not like different individuals. I’ve misplaced my talents. The kid begins to have a detrimental picture of herself,” she says. “The extra the individual stays remoted, the extra they begin creating irregular conduct.”
The employees at Toyokana attempt to intervene earlier than that occurs. However it may be difficult.
“There are kids who’re so quiet, they’ve a very exhausting time saying who damage them and what occurred,” says Falone. Throughout group periods the place ladies speak about their experiences, the employees pay shut consideration to those that aren’t speaking. “Possibly we discover a lady who reacts otherwise in that second, or her eyes get all bloodshot,” she says, “We strategy her discreetly and take her to a different room the place she opens up.”
Among the ladies are coping with different challenges, along with experiencing sexual violence, which might make therapy more durable too. Toyokana supervisor Georgette Uma remembers one lady who got here by way of their doorways after a number of sexual assaults. Along with being severely traumatized, she could not learn or write.
On the heart, employees supply casual assist with these abilities. “She realized the right way to learn, the right way to write. This strengthened her,” says Uma. “As we speak, she’s change into a mannequin for the ladies who’re nonetheless on the streets.”
Extra assist is required
Since opening, Toyokana’s two facilities in Kinshasa have handled over 100,000 ladies who’ve skilled or been uncovered to sexual violence. However Uma says a lot extra help is critical to satisfy the dimensions of want throughout the nation. “It might be higher if our work have been widespread,” she says, particularly in areas of battle.
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However the sources to broaden this sort of work are shrinking. Final 12 months’s drastic funding international help cuts by the U.S. and different Western nations primarily halved funding for clinics like Toyokana in DRC, says UNICEF’s Toure. In keeping with her, the quantity dropped from $18 million in 2024 to $10 million in 2025. “We now have seen loads of the native applications for sexual violence being disrupted or fully stopped by way of funding,” she says.
“That is fairly a pity, as a result of what we have seen within the areas the place there’s providers is that if we come collectively, it is doable to stop and it is also doable to really reply to sexual violence,” she says.
Peace in jap DRC would go a good distance towards conserving children secure from sexual violence, says Toure, as would strengthening the nation’s felony justice system to make perpetrators accountable.
Fixing these bigger structural issues might take years. However smaller-scale efforts, like Toyokana, can nonetheless make a distinction, says Toure. “It is not a hopeless case, quite the opposite.”
