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Tiara Phillips
Professor K. Cantrell
TPS 1107

Ruined: A Story of Tragic Trials and Tribulations in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The western world has a habit of turning a blind eye to the tragedies that occur in the vast
continent of Africa. Blood diamonds, kidnapping, rape are all things that occurred in Africa over
the years. However, Lynn Nottage decided to shed light on one of the most tragic occurrences in
Africa. Lynn Nottages play Ruined shed light on the very real situation of rape and sexual
violence that many Congolese women endured. The following essay will examine the history of
the ground-breaking play and the grounds in which it was built on.
In 2004 Lynn Nottage traveled to Africa to acquire information for her play. Originally
she planned to mirror the play Mother Courage and her Children, a play by Berolt Brecht
written in 1939. Once she interviewed many Congolese women about the hardships they had
endured as a result of the war, she decided to change the direction of the play and bring the focus
on brutally of sexual violence and rape. Nottage stated I was interested in giving voice and
audience to African women living in the shadows of war. The women told her bluntly that they
had been brutally abused at the hands of militia. One of the first women to tell her story was a
woman named Salima. Some parts of Salimas story were so graphic that Lynn Nottage had to
beg her to stop. Lynn Nottage realized from the stories that the women shared this rape had been
used as a weapon in this country, a weapon used to punish and destroy communities. The play
premiered in Chicago in 2008 at the Goodman Theater. The play went on to win a Pulitzer Prize
for drama.

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The war in Democratic Republic of Congo was one of the most deadly wars to hit Africa.
Often times it is called World War III. It began after the cold war when a neighboring Rwanda
invaded the country to flush out extremist Hutu militia and fueled the anti-Mobutu rebels. The
rebels captured the capital and established Laurent Kabila as its new president. A rift formed
between Kabila and his former allies sparking a new rebellion. However, rebels backed by
Rwanda and Uganda wrested control from Kabila and took over much of the countrys eastern
region. Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Angola tried to block the takeover. In 1999, all six countries
signed a peace accord, but unrest continued. Two years later, Kabila was assassinated by a
bodyguard and was succeeded by his son Joseph. The war is ongoing due to the belief that
government is corrupt. The war has claimed up to six million lives due to fighting, disease and
malnutrition. Efforts have been made to try and resolve the conflict for the past couple of years.
This war has lasted over two decades and there are over twenty different armed groups involved.
The rebel groups get most of their money from exploiting the resources of the country. These
resources include diamonds, coltan, tin, copper, cassiterite, and timber. Different groups trade
these resources to outside sources in order obtain there items for war such as guns, ammunition,
medication for wounded soldiers. Most of the fighting occurs in eastern Congo. There are
approximately 1.5 million refugees. Approximately 90 percent of the DRCs population is
displaced having fled violence from that region. There is a lack of strong government and
accepted authoring among the Congolese people. The people of Congo believe that its problem
cannot be solved by outside intervention. The government has the power to give the people what
they want, a government that is not corrupt or incorporating dictatorial policies. The government
has to address these issues in order to bring peace. The people live in fear for their lives every
day with no hope of ever seeing peace.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo has been named the rape capital of the world. There
have been many reports and witness accounts of the gang rape of young girls and elderly women
by armed militia, and also accounts of men being raped. Because of the dishonor of rape, many
married women find themselves abandoned by their husbands. As many as 1.8 million women
out of the country's population of 70 million people have been raped, with up to 433,785 raped in
a one-year period. There are many different reasons that rape is committed in this country. In a
2008 documentary, members of the Mai Mai militia explained how they believe that raping
women is protection for them. Well, we were just abiding by the conditions of our magic
potion. We had to rape women in order to make it work, and beat the enemy, one militia soldier
stated. Other militia members stated that they rape even when they dont want to. The
consequences of not committing sexualized violence, they say, would be a severe beating by
their superiors. Rape is often targeted at women in communities in close proximity to mines and
other resources. Experts say that rape has repeatedly been used to procure a communitys
resources in Democratic Republic of Congo and that militia groups strategically target these
women. Other militia men state that they rape women due their frustration and anger. Most
brutal cases of rape involve militia men not only sexually raping women but there are cases that
they use objects to rape women. These are objects such as branches and guns that are extremely
painful and cause a hole to be torn in the vaginal wall between the bladder and rectum.
Overall it has been established that the state of the Democratic Republic of Congo is
absolutely detrimental. These heinous crimes are committed every minute of every day and it has
been going on for two decades. Lynn Nottage stated in ruined war is fought on womens
bodies. All women are susceptible to becoming victims to this violence no matter the age.
Brave women told their horrendous stories to Lynn Nottage and she was able to formulate a very

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moving play to give them a voice. This violence robs young women of their innocence and robs
older women of their dignity and sanity. It is sad that there is no telling when this violence will
end. It cannot be determined just how many more women will be subjected to this sexual
violence.

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Works Cited
1. Adetunji, Jo. "Forty-eight Women Raped Every Hour in Congo, Study Finds." The
Guardian. The Guardian, 12 May 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

2. Bobrow, Emily. "LYNN NOTTAGE'S "RUINED"" More Intelligent Life. The Economist
Newspaper. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
3. Gettleman, Jeffery. "Congo's Never Ending War." The New York Times. The New York
Times Company, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
4. Lent Hirsch, Michele, and Lauren Wolfer. "Democratic Republic of Congo." Women
Under Siege Project. The Women's Media Project, 8 Feb. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2014
5. Shah, Anup. "The Democratic Republic of Congo." Global Issues. 21 Aug. 2010. Web. 1
Dec. 2014.
6. "Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News Africa. BBC, 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 1
Dec. 2014.