In 2005, a group from Answering the Call (ATC) traveled to the DR Congo to minister to rape victims and met a three year-old girl named Julie, who had been raped by soldiers and shot in the genitals when her village was attacked. Her grandmother traveled over 1200 miles to a clinic so she could be surgically repaired; however, when they arrived it became clear that her injuries were too severe for the clinic to repair. The team from ATC arranged for Julie and her grandmother to travel back with them to the US for surgery.
Julie's story inspired what is now called "The Julie Project," the construction of a shelter in Bukavu for women and children victimized by sexual violence. Most rape victims in the DRC are shunned by their husbands, families and communities, leaving them homeless with no ability to provide for themselves of their children. The shelter will be a safe place for the women to recover from the physical and emotional trauma of rape and will provide the educational and vocational training they will need to rebuild their lives.
The Julie Project is being constructed through Answering the Call (ATC); however, you can make a donation directly to the Julie Project through Paypal by clicking here or the button below. Although this is not a Congocast program, we encourage you to donate to The Julie Project, so that the women you see in the podcast and the hundreds like them will have somewhere to call home as they recover from the effects of sexual violence.
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To find out more about The Julie Project and how you can help, click here