We know of the rapes and the horrible acts of sexual violence against the women and children here in the Congo, but knowing of it is one thing – to bear witness to the aftermath is quite another.  Even though we are at the end of this part of our journey together,  I understand that we are here not  only to help and to offer comfort and solace, but  to bear witness to these crimes.  As sister Jews, our connection to these Congolese women is great.  There is so much that we share as a people, and so perhaps in all my years of activism, it is here that I finally begin to understand what it means to not stand idly by.   At the hospital of  Heal Africa, one of the partners of Jewish World Watch on the ground in the Congo, we enter the rape ward.  Of the six of us on this journey, three of us are women.  It is only we women who are allowed to enter this ward.  Of all the sections of the hospital, including the pre and post op for fistula, this is the most fragile, and the reality is overpowering, as the women lie facing us, in so much pain and discomfort, and I’m sure, anguish.  They rage in age – one is a young woman holding a baby, another much older, although her exact age impossible to know,  and yet another, the youngest, barely in her teens.  All of them have endured unspeakable acts of sexual violence, used as the true weapons of this inexplicable war, and yet in spite of their pain, the smiles that greet us are pure beauty.  Three Jewish sisters there to take their hands, and to pray with them, for prayer is the foundation of their lives.   It was Janice who offered the blessing as the leader of our group.  It was a soulful  prayer.  We closed our eyes, and for that one moment, we were all transported, our silence so powerful.  So moving…  As Jews we know that survival is one thing, but strength quite another, and as we walked from bed to bed, and took each woman’s hand, I made my own silent prayer.  I prayed for the strength of these women, and that we all would go from strength to greater strength, and that none of us would ever have need to say the words,’ Never again…”