YOU! - Register today and join these individuals in advocating for the DR Congo

Invited Speakers:

Anderson Cooper, journalist, author
Angelina Jolie, actress, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
Lucy Liu, actress, UNICEF Ambassador


Confirmed Speakers:

Omekongo Dibinga, Activist, educator, spoken word artist, winner of the Cambridge Poetry Award

Pan-Afrikan Poetry in English, French, and Swahili. Winner of the Cambridge Poetry Award.  Activist, educator, spoken word artist, and Founder & CEO of Free Your Mind Publishing. Received his MA from The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and BSFS from Georgetown University. A first generation Congolese-American, Omekongo writes and performs poetry in English, French and Swahili, and has occasionally used Wolof in his writings. He has released 2 spoken word CDs.  Has featured/lectured nationwide in universities and poetry venues from Harvard to Russel Simmon's Hip-Hop Summit. Internationally, he has performed in Congo-Kinshasa, Tanzania, France, Cuba, and Canada. His work has appeared on TV and radio from BET to Voice of America in over 30 countries. He has shared the stage with many poetry greats such as Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka and Askia Tour.

Maryam Elahi, Open Society Institute, Women's Program

Maryam Elahi came to Trinity College in September 1997 to direct the Office of International Programs. She was a leading force behind the establishment of the Human Rights Program at Trinity in August 1998 and became its first Director in April 1999.

Ms. Elahi was formerly with Amnesty International (AI) for eight and a half years, over seven of which she worked as the Advocacy Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe in the Washington D.C. Office of AI. Prior to her tenure with Amnesty International, she worked with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in NY.  Currently, she is co-chair of the International Human Rights Committee of the American Bar Association.

Ms. Elahi holds a JD from Boston College School of Law, a Masters Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Bachelors Degree in Biology from Williams College. Ms. Elahi coordinates the Minor in Human Rights and teaches one of its core courses, "International Human Rights Law and Advocacy".

Tony Gambino, Great Lakes Policy Forum

Great Lakes Policy Forum

Tony Gambino was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the then-Zaire from 1979-1982. He has served on the staff of the Select Committee of Hunger of the House of Representatives and as Public Policy Director for InterAction. During most of the 1980s and early 1990s worked on Central Africa as a volunteer for Amnesty International. In 1994, he joined the State Department, working in the office of the Under Secretary for Global Affairs and later in the Bureau of Public Affairs. From 1997 to 2004, Tony worked for USAID, first as Congo Coordinator, then as Great Lakes Coordinator, and finally as USAID Mission Director for the Congo (2001-2004). He has a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is now a self-employed consultant.

 

Department of Women and Families for the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa

Monique Misenga is the Director of the Department of Women and Families for the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK).  This department covers a range of empowerment and training projects for women and their families. 

 

Dr. Patricia Morris, Director of Program Development, Women for Women International

She holds a Ph.D. in International Politics from Florida State University, a MA in Comparative Politics with an emphasis on Economic Development from Bowling Green State University, and a BA in International Affairs from Jacksonville University. Dr. Morris is a native of the US Virgin Islands.

http://www.womenforwomen.org/programs.htm

Marie Mossi, Vice President, Association Africaine de Defense des Droits de l'Homme

Rev. Ferdinand Muhigirwa, Director of CEPAS (Centre d'Etudes Pour l'Action Sociale) in Kinshasa, DR Congo

Rev. Ferdinand R. Muhigirwa, S.J., is currently the Director of CEPAS (Centre d'Etudes Pour l'Action Sociale, "The Center of Study for Social Action") in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Rev. Muhigirwa has spent much of his life studying philosophy in light of the Jesuit tradition; his expertise enables him to discuss human development and the effects it has on healing Africa.

Rev. Muhigirwa was born in Bukavu, DRC, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1978 and was ordained a priest in 1992. He obtained a Master of Arts in Philosophy at the University of Lubumbashi, a Masters of Theology at the University of Toronto, a Licentiate of Sacred Theology at Regis College in Toronto, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Gregorian University, Rome. Rev. Ferdinand Muhigirwa teaches philosophy at the Jesuit Faculté St. Pierre Canisius in Kimwenza, D.R. Congo.

As coordinator of the Jesuit Social Apostolate in Africa and Madagascar, Rev. Muhigirwa published a letter on the pandemic of HIV/AIDS on December 10, 2002, asserting that AIDS ought to be the "priority of priorities." In the letter, Rev. Muhigirwa urges the rest of the global community to mobilize and join the fight against AIDS, not simply to eradicate a deadly virus, but because of the larger issue, namely how the virus affects human development within particular communities with high HIV/AIDS infection rates.

Rev. Muhigirwa's book, The Two Ways of Human Development According to Bernard Lonergan: Anticipation in Insight, "...examines philosophically how Lonergan's understanding of these two ways of human development, operative in Method in Theology, thematic in the post-Method articles, are anticipated in Insight. In fact, the aim of Insight is to issue in a self-appropriation of one's own cognitional activities conceived essentially as a development of the subject and in the subject." http://woodstock.georgetown.edu/berkleycenter/fm.htm

Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere, Director, Panzi Hospital in Bukavau recently featured in the CBS 60 Minutes report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dr. Mukengere was born on March 1^st, 1955 to a family of 9 children. His father was a Pastor at the Pentacostal Church in Bukavu, a city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In his youth he accompanied his father in his Pastoral visits to victims, and while there he made his first contact with patients. His first impression was that medical help was needed in addition to prayer. After receiving his baccalaureate he studied medicine in Burundi where after having finished he went to work in The Christian Hospital of Lemera*, in South-Kivu DR Congo.

Specializing in Podiatry he was shocked by the realization that women were being brought to the hospital from the rural areas on the back of mules, after having hemorrhaged during childbirth at home. Others were quite simply coming to the hospital to die after enduring long and laborious childbirth without success, and the surviving ones would leave with serious genital legions.

At this point Dr. Mukengere changes his direction to gynecology and goes to study at the CHU in Angers, France.

In 1989 Dr. Mukwengere settles at the Hospital of Lemera to be close to these women, and there he trains a staff in gynecology and obstetrics. This important service will radiate beyond the borders of the country but, unfortunately, this hospital becomes completely destroyed during the first war of Congo in 1996.

Dr. Mukengere survives Lemera then moves to Bukavu where he witnesses the suffering of the people in the Southern part of Bukavu. There is no medical structure there either to help women during childbirth. This gives him the inspiration to create a special maternity ward with an operating room at Panzi Hospital.

Immediately it is evident to him, that these women are victims of extreme sexual violence, with the number of victims growing everyday. At this point he creates a specialized service to assume the responsibility of these women. Currently they receive an average of 10 women per day and 30% of these women will undergo major surgery.

As this task becomes increasingly difficult, Dr. Mukengere creates a section for the training of nurses, obstetricians and doctors. This is done in collaboration with international experts from the Fistula Hospital of Addis Ababa, who specialize in vaginal rebuilding.

http://www.brunijazzart.com/Dr%20Mukengere%20Bio%20Page.htm

Murhabazi Namegabe, Director, Office of Voluntary Service for Children and Health

Murhabazi Namegabe has for several years worked with children’s rights for both Congolese and international NGOs. Currently he is heading the child and youth programmes for the Congolese NGO – Bureau pour le Volontariat au Sevice de l’Enfance et de la Santé (BVES). BVES seeks to promote the awareness of victimised children and to protect their rights. BVES is especially attempting to protect children that are victims to conflicts and/or economic marginalisation, e.g. street children, children in jail, refugee children and child soldiers. During the later years Murhabezi Namegabe and BVES have established strong links with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international NGO’s to defend human rights.

Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Professor of African Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja was born in 1944 in Kasha, Congo-Kinshasa. He holds a B.A. degree in philosophy (Davidson College, Davidson, NC, 1967); an M.A. in diplomacy and international commerce (University of Kentucky, Lexington, 1968); and a Ph.D. in political science  (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975).

 

A specialist in African politics, development policy and administration, and political theory, he is currently professor of African Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA) and professor emeritus of African studies at Howard University in Washington, DC.

 

 Before joining the Howard University faculty in 1978, Professor Nzongola held academic appointments at the University of Kisangani in Congo-Kinshasa, 1970-71; the University of Lubumbashi (1971-75), also in the Congo, where he was associate dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1972-73; Clark-Atlanta University, 1975-77; and the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria, 1977-78. He has also held appointments as a visiting lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Summer 1975), and as a visiting professor at El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City (Summer 1987) and at Davidson College (Fall 1990). During the 1998-99 academic year, he served as the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College.

 

As an expert on governance, conflict and capacity building issues, Professor Nzongola has served as an international civil servant for seven years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): as a senior adviser for governance to the Federal Government of Nigeria from March 2000 to May 2002; as Director of the Oslo Governance Centre, from August 2002 to July 2005; and as Facilitator for the Africa Governance Institute (AGI), an independent pan-African think tank on governance, from August 2005 to July 2007. He has done consulting work for the United Nations Secretariat, UNDP, UNESCO, the United Nations University, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the World Bank, the United States Department of State, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Social Science Research Council of the United States and other organizations. In 1999, he served as an expert in conflict mediation and legal drafting to the negotiations between the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Lomé, Togo

 

In the area of public service, Professor Nzongola served as a delegate to the Sovereign National Conference of Congo-Kinshasa, in which he chaired the subcommittee on political files of the Committee on Political Affairs; as Diplomatic Adviser to the Conference's elected Prime Minister Etienne Tshisekedi in 1992-93; and as Deputy President of the National Electoral Commission in 1996.  He also served, as a representative of the Tshisekedi government, in the United Nations Mission to Observe the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER) in 1993.

 

Past President of the African Studies Association of the United States (ASA) and of the African Association of Political Science (AAPS), Professor Nzongola is the author of several books and numerous articles on African politics, development, and conflict issues. These include Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Africa, Nation-Building and State Building in Africa, and Le  mouvement démocratique au Zaïre, 1956-1996.  He is the editor of The Crisis in Zaire: Myths and Realities and of Conflict in the Horn of Africa, and co-editor of the State and Democracy in Africa and of The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (both the first and second editions). His major work, The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History, won the 2004 Best Book Award of the African Politics Conference Group (APCG), a study group of the ASA, the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the International Studies Association (ISA).

Peter Rosenblum, Human Rights Law Professor at Colombia University

 

Zainab Salbi

Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO of Women for Women International, is an activist and social entrepreneur. Ms. Salbi inspires and moves audiences with the passion of her personal experience as a survivor of war and her dedication to rebuilding communities after war, one woman at a time.

 

She has raised her voice, and thousands of women have responded to the call, to help women survivors of war rebuild their lives through her organization, Women for Women International. The Oprah Winfrey Show has featured Ms. Salbi and her organization seven times.

 

Ms. Salbi survived the bombs and lies of living in the shadows of Saddam Hussein. She writes about those terrifying years in her memoir, Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam (Gotham, 2005). She escaped Iraq and through adversity began to help other women whose lives had been torn apart by war. Her personal story inspires; her passion moves.

 

Since Ms. Salbi founded Women for Women International in 1993, tens of thousands of women have joined a quiet but strong movement to help women survivors of wars and civil strife to rebuild their lives. One by one, 93,000 women survivors of war have begun to contribute to the political and economic health of their societies. Ms. Salbi has dedicated her life to the belief that stronger women build stronger nations.

 

She serves on the advisory boards of Tällberg Foundation International Advisory Council, the Peter Gruber Foundation  Women’s Rights Prize, World Pulse Magazine and the International Museum of Women.  Ms. Salbi also serves as a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum and is a member of the International Women’s Forum.

 

Ms. Salbi earned a Master Degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2001 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies from George Mason University in 1996.

 

http://www.womenforwomen.org/zainab.htm

 

Mark Schneider, Senior Vice-President of Washington DC Office, International Crisis Group

Archbishop Francois- Xavier Maroy Rusengo, Archbishop of Bukavu

Gayle Smith, Co-Chair ENOUGH Project

A Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Gayle Smith served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from 1998-2001, and as Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 1994-1998.

Smith was based in Africa for over 20 years as a journalist covering military, economic, and political affairs for the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Toronto Globe & Mail, London Observer, and Financial Times. Smith has also consulted for a wide range of NGOs, foundations, and governmental organizations including UNICEF, the World Bank, Dutch Interchurch Aid, Norwegian Church Relief, and the Canadian Council for International Cooperation. She won the World Journalism Award from the World Affairs Council and the World Hunger Year Award in 1991, and in 1999 won the National Security Council’s Samuel Nelson Drew Award for Distinguished Contribution in Pursuit of Global Peace.

Smith is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of Oxfam America, the Africa America Institute, USA for Africa, and the National Security Network. She also serves on the policy advisory boards of DATA, the Acumen Fund, and the Global Fairness Initiative, and is the Working Group Chair on Global Poverty for the Clinton Global Initiative.

Karin Wachter

International Rescue Committee

Karin Wachter is currently the Regional Gender Based Violence Technical Advisor and has worked in DR Congo and Sudan.  She has been working with the International Rescue Committee since 2002, focusing on GBV and civil society development programming.  She is currently based in Burundi and provides GBV technical support to Burundi, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania.  Prior to her work at the IRC, she spent over 2 years working as a Peace Corps volunteer doing community health work in semi-urban and rural areas  She received her Master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts through their Center for International Education.

Howard Wolpe, a former seven-term Member of Congress and former Presidential Special Envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes Region, is currently Director of the Africa Program and the Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

A specialist in African politics, for 10 of his 14 years in the Congress Dr. Wolpe chaired the Subcommittee on Africa of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he was instrumental in effecting many changes in U.S. policy on Africa, including the ending of military assistance to Gen. Mobutu in Zaire (Congo) and enabling the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. He also chaired the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. His other roles in the Congress included the co-chairmanship of the bipartisan Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition and the Congressional Energy and Environmental Study Conference.

Prior to entering the Congress, Dr. Wolpe served in the Michigan House of Representatives and as a member of the Kalamazoo City Commission.

Dr. Wolpe has taught at Western Michigan University (Political Science Department), Michigan State University, the University of Michigan (Institute of Public Policy Studies), and has served as a Visiting Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution and as a Woodrow Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar.

Dr. Wolpe received his B.A. degree from Reed College, and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Wolpe is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and of Africare. He co-directed (with Ambassador David C. Miller, Jr.) the Ninetieth American Assembly on “Africa and U.S. National Interests” held in March 1997. He has written extensively on Africa, American foreign policy, and the management of ethnic and racial conflict.

Currently, Dr. Wolpe is working on a book based on his diplomatic experience with the Burundi peace process and is directing several post-conflict leadership training programs in Africa.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics.profile&person_id=19047&topic_id=1417#Biography

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