I guess it’s important to clarify why I’m here. International Medical Corps is an incredible organization that is providing healthcare and support to people in dire need. I met with them in Los Angeles two months ago and they approached me to see if and how I could help in anyway. They desperately need funding and general awareness raised both for the organization, and for all the projects they are involved with. If my involvement in any way could contribute to either then I was more than happy to be involved. My one request was that if we were going to start working together, it was imperative, that I see and experience what is going on first hand….So here I am.
Today we went into the camps. It’s incredibly difficult to put down in writing what I saw and how I subsequently feel. I met so many courageous people: victims of brutal rape, mothers of children dying of starvation, and the children themselves. If a woman is married and raped here, most of the time her husband will leave her immediately. If she was too young to be married when raped, she will probably never have the chance to be married at all. It is brutal in every sense of the word. One woman recounted her story to me. She is twenty five years old, and was gang-raped five months ago. It is difficult to hear, but important to know that when women are raped it is sometimes not only by men, but by objects ranging from broken bottles and knives, to the butts of very large rifles. As a result of her experience, this woman will wear a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. I saw the scars, and the bag, and I can honestly say that it is one of the most harrowing images I will ever come across. A woman is raped here every eight minutes. This one, for better or worse, survived.
The work being done is overwhelming, the problem so huge. The wards are constructed under makeshift tents and the drugs are constantly running out. No matter how many photos or documentaries we watch, nothing can compare to the experience of being in those camps. The smell alone is unforgettable. But the people smile, and the looks on their faces when they hear that we are trying to try and help is one of hope. That is often all they have.
After the camps, we visited Virunga Hospital that caters towards seriously malnourished children. Some are skeletal, others are in an even worse state, their skin bloated to such a severe degree that it is bursting and ripping from their bodies. I have a ten-month old niece who I cherish and adore and who is bigger than a four-year-old child I met today. It is not however all completely depressing. This particular hospital has a 98% success rate, but the numbers of new admissions are growing and there are just not enough resources here to help everyone In need.
I am back at the hotel contemplating the amount of food I have thrown away in my life. And the things, fundamental things in life that I absolutely take for granted. I’m sorry this blog is so doom and gloom. I’m searching my head for a funny anecdote to finish on, but not having much luck. Be grateful, be happy. If you are reading this on a computer, take a minute to realize how lucky you are. We are all so so blessed… over and out.
Sienna Miller is an award-winning actress. Read her full bio and more about her trip to the Congo.
(Images courtesy of Dokument Films)
CATEGORIES: Human Rights
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and every human lies every eight seconds, statistically speaking.
the fact is this planet is already overpopulated. if every human on this planet will be consuming natural resources as much as people consume in developed countries, then you need eight more planets like Earth. and this process of overpopulation is not gonna stop. human beings is a virus.
as for Congo, these countries have been for a very long time a polygon for Pharma companies to test their new drugs. and this process is not gonna stop either.
Sienna- as you remind all of us, sitting at our computers in peace and safety, we are blessed. The challenge for all of us is to assault our passive observance of these events and to actually become involved. There is a massive call to action required in the world today and it is ringing in the ears of all of us who are insulated by geography or wealth to the horrors that our fellow beings are subjected to on a daily basis. Thank you for being there. Thank you for reminding us. Lets figure out how to DO. Not to blame, not to complain, but just to get something done. There is a way, even if we only start with one person, or one hospital. Every one of us is diminished by this horror and every one of us has the power, in whatever small way, to make a change that can show those that are suffering there is hope and that there is love in our world.
I really have a lot of feeling for this subject as I have lived in a third world country, but who the heck is stupid enough to send Sienne Miller there, this obviously is all about damage control, won’t wash. And I doubt she wrote this article anyway.
To Sunseeker what a bitter nasty person you sound that you cant see the goodness and caring that Sienna and group are giving to these more unfortunate people you must be reeked with jealousy to write like this about someone you dont know who has actually made the effort to go out there and make a difference TAKE YOUR vitriol elsewhere
To sunseeker. Can you stop for once slandering other people. This is not the place to continue insult, slander. What you do is causing hate and a bad world. You are exactly doing what causes war and sorry: to blame and hunt a others. Sienna is a lovely human being. You and others like you, who are raging a with hunt online are causing the damage. Enough now !
Sienna- Thank you for your work. Thank you for bringing your sensitivity and pain to us who don’t have any possible way to even imagine the horrors inflicted on these people who did nothing but be born in a difficult place. As you remind us as we sit at our computers, there is a massive gap in the world’s moral fiber. And now is the time for all of us who are insulated from this to actually DO something. Not to make snide remarks about the motives of those trying to help, not to talk or write but to get into action. I believe that the climate for this sort of action has vastly improved in the last 6 months and it is desperately needed. While you are there find a project, a family, a child and enroll us in demonstrating that there is still love and hope in the world.
exactly!! it’s really time to actually DO something, to get into action.
you could adopt those seriously malnourished children, for example. or just spend a couple of your hard earned millions for food for them. Can you do that, Si? Can you really show how do you feel for them? Can you actually and personally prove that there is still love and hope in the world, Si?
instead of prancing around with the camcorder and ‘blogging’.
Sienna’s blogging is a reportage for the human condition in Congo. Raw and sensitive. Emotional and feminine. Keep up the good work… have you read something from Kapu?ci?ski? It should be insightful being where you are..xx
A salute to all the sensitive and courageous people who are
engaged in changing this tragic landscape.
Here are a few things you can do to help people in Congo, as you sit right there in front of your computer and talk on your cell phone. Both luxury items are most likely made with minerals mined in DRC.
http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/special-page/conflict-minerals
Thank you Sienna for helping raise awareness about people who are living in such fear. They are being held hostage in a war for these minerals, and they are using rape as their weapon. Each of us CAN take action -so get involved. Thank you for having the courage to go there and tell their stories.
“I’m sorry this blog is so doom and gloom. I’m searching my head for a funny anecdote to finish on, but not having much luck.”
In light of the horrible things you’re telling us about - and thank you for it because this cause certainly need much more attention - a funny ending would be really out of place IMO.
I am the cinematographer that was on this trip with Miss Miller. I am going to dispel all rumors and lay to rest any question in regard to her involvement and/or behavior.
I met up with Miss Miller in Nairobi, Kenya where we boarded a flight together (coach) to Kigali, Rwanda.
There we met up with the International Medical Corps and took the long and bumpy ride in a 4×4 to the border in Goma. She voluntarily took the center seat with no safety buckle in the front of the truck between the driver and the front passenger seat. For anyone that has traveled in this region of the world, to sit in that seat for 4 hours is grueling, let alone after a 10 hour flight from London.
We arrived at the border, crossed, and checked in to our hotel.
I am a documentary filmmaker with $5,000.00 in my bank account. Sienna stayed at the same hotel with the same accommodations as me and this would be the same hotel I stayed at with or without her in tow.
For anyone who thinks there is luxury hotels anywhere in DR Congo, are as ill equipped to be a journalist as they are a stone thrower.
We spent long grueling days in Goma, woke up early, worked all day and then at the end of the night, when all I wanted to do was go to sleep, she stayed up and processed it all in her blogs.
In everything we did, she simply asked one question, “What’s next?”
Yes, I had heard all of the stories but for you to think because you read something in a tabloid, that it is true, or you are somehow above making mistakes, is laughable at best, and really should be your wake up call. Instead of commenting on the plight of the disenfranchised you are slamming a soul on this planet trying to make a difference with her life.
Imagine for a moment if you used these energies for good. What kind of change could be happening in your town? With you family? Around the globe?
Miss Miller absolutely wrote EVERY SINGLE WORD of her blogs and she endured all of the same hardships that traveling in this region of the world requires. Not eating for long periods of time, no electricity, clean water, bed bugs, and mosquitoes.
In an industry where image is everything, it is a shame that you will never see all the times she sacrificed her own comfort for the team or the story. That doesn’t sell papers. That doesn’t feed the machine.
Sienna Miller is the real deal. Trust me, I brought with me all the same preconceptions as I was racked with anticipation in my ability to tell this story. I learned that until you meet a person, until you know a person, you CANNOT believe what is written about them. People love to tear people down, for whatever reason.
Actually, that is the least of my concern.
What does concern me is doing everything that I can to mobilize people to go out there and make a difference.
Sienna was doing just that.
As I said before, she is the real deal.
Celebrate ones accomplishments, not their mistakes.
My hat is off to her and all of the change makers doing what they feel is right in the face of the naysayers.
My opnion of an organization that would use Sienna Miller as a spokesperson has gone way down. She’s a stupid, selfish, heartless person who treats people in her personal life appallingly. Charity begins at home and in your own heart. She doesn’t have one.
Dave I get up and work hard every day. So what? I certainly doesn’t mena she has a soul. She needs to treat the people around her better before imploring others to do the same. The truth is she is a lying two faced husband-stealing cheater! Five days in the Congo can’t undo four years of history.
Dear Sienna,
You are beeing taking in a boat by a fishy NGO desconcidered by the donors and the RDC authorities and want to try the ” hollywood go to humanitarian” to maintain their fat cats privileges
PW