POEM BY OMEKONGO DIBINGA from THE ENOUGH MOMENT Book

5 million screams falling on deaf ears

Fatherless children fathered by foreign soldiers
Homes with no husbands
Husbands with no honor
Rape as a tool for much more than power
Pregnant women’s legs spread
Aborted by their own community
Thus another rape committed
Another violation unforgiven
Another lifeless life lived by abandoned women
But on behalf of men worldwide
I ask you to stand with pride
Because your screams were never silent
We were never compliant in these acts so violent
Across oceans we cried for you when you ran out of tears
Incapable of international intervention to assuage your fears
Your stories became our poems
Your horrors inhabited our homes
But now you must hear that we are here for you
I implore you to forgive the world for having ignored you
As they raped you they said “today you will have husbands . . . “
But as we embrace you I say “today you will have brothers”
For all of my Congolese sisters, daughters, and mothers
Your perseverance is appreciated
Your persistence respected
Though human interest has depreciated
I’ll ensure you’re no longer neglected
Let the world be your pillow to comfort your despair
And let the love of this one man show you that men do care…