Colours of Living
what's goin' on
First African-American All Female Flight Crew
Playing For Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire and connect communities and bring peace to the world through music. A group of artists and inspired people who are looking to unite the world through songs and various musical forms.
(an)OTHER Show
Selected works by Artists of Color
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT 06050
We visited this presentation by the Artists of Color, a group of Art Professors from the Universities in Connecticut, and were overwhelmed by the the creative talent and energies gathered under this one roof. These folks have spent most of their lives encouraging the talents of others with the desire of passing their talent on to the next generation.
This showing tells us that the "next generation" is in very good hands.
We share a few pictures:
Professors Whitehead and Widdiss
Trail of Bones by Professor Arroyo
The Forgotten Army
The privilege of attending the Connecticut 29th Colored Infantry Monument and celebration have opened our eyes to the masses of information that our generation is not aware of but need to be expressed to the young generation as they in turn pass the information on and forward.
We have taken some pictures and took the time to absorb the relevant meaning of what is and was meant by these pictures:
The Hawley descendants.
Rape Victims in Congo
In Congo, they are experiencing another 'cide' (as an article says 'femicide'), the raping of women and the mutilating of their bodies.
The nature of the crimes - women being gang raped, in some cases in front of their children or husbands, their vaginas mutilated with guns and sticks - show that sex is being used as a cheap weapon of war, according to Dr. Denis Mukwege who works at a hospital in the city of Bukavu.
Women are not the only victims. "When rape is done in front of your family, it destroys everyone. I have seen men suffer who watched their wives raped; they are not mentally stable anymore. The children are in even worse condition... Clearly these rapes are not done to satisfy any sexual desire but to destroy the soul. The whole family and community are broken." Mukwege tells Ensler.
The perpetrators include armed groups, soldiers, police and increasingly civilians and in some cases, even the U.N. peacekeepers are involved.
Here's an excerpt of the article printed in the New York Times about this crime and efforts to correct these brutal attacks against Humanity:
" .... Congo, it seems, is finally facing its horrific rape problem, which United Nations officials have called the worst sexual violence in the world. Tens of thousands of women, possibly hundreds of thousands, have been raped in the past few years in this hilly, incongruously beautiful land. Many of these rapes have been marked by a level of brutality that is shocking even by the twisted standards of a place riven by civil war and haunted by warlords and drug-crazed child soldiers.
After years of denial and shame, the silence is being broken. Because of stepped-up efforts in the past nine months by international organizations and the Congolese government, rapists are no longer able to count on a culture of impunity. Of course, countless men still get away with assaulting women. But more and more are getting caught, prosecuted and put behind bars.
European aid agencies are spending tens of millions of dollars building new courthouses and prisons across eastern Congo, in part to punish rapists. Mobile courts are holding rape trials in villages deep in the forest that have not seen a black-robed magistrate since the Belgians ruled the country decades ago.
The American Bar Association opened a legal clinic in January specifically to help rape victims bring their cases to court. So far the work has resulted in eight convictions. Here in Bukavu, one of the biggest cities in the country, a special unit of Congolese police officers has filed 103 rape cases since the beginning of this year, more than any year in recent memory."
Please download the full article from the NY times.
Write a letter or email to:
Président Joseph Kabila
Présidence de la République
Kinshasa Gombe
République Démocratique du Congo
Email: pr@presidentrdc.cd or pp@presidentrdc.cd
Salutation: Your Excellency
Selected works by Artists of Color
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT 06050
We visited this presentation by the Artists of Color, a group of Art Professors from the Universities in Connecticut, and were overwhelmed by the the creative talent and energies gathered under this one roof. These folks have spent most of their lives encouraging the talents of others with the desire of passing their talent on to the next generation.
This showing tells us that the "next generation" is in very good hands.
We share a few pictures:
Professors Whitehead and Widdiss
Trail of Bones by Professor Arroyo
The Forgotten Army
The privilege of attending the Connecticut 29th Colored Infantry Monument and celebration have opened our eyes to the masses of information that our generation is not aware of but need to be expressed to the young generation as they in turn pass the information on and forward.
We have taken some pictures and took the time to absorb the relevant meaning of what is and was meant by these pictures:
The Hawley descendants.
Memorial To Black Civil War Regiment To Be Unveiled
Rape Victims in Congo
In Congo, they are experiencing another 'cide' (as an article says 'femicide'), the raping of women and the mutilating of their bodies.
The nature of the crimes - women being gang raped, in some cases in front of their children or husbands, their vaginas mutilated with guns and sticks - show that sex is being used as a cheap weapon of war, according to Dr. Denis Mukwege who works at a hospital in the city of Bukavu.
Women are not the only victims. "When rape is done in front of your family, it destroys everyone. I have seen men suffer who watched their wives raped; they are not mentally stable anymore. The children are in even worse condition... Clearly these rapes are not done to satisfy any sexual desire but to destroy the soul. The whole family and community are broken." Mukwege tells Ensler.
The perpetrators include armed groups, soldiers, police and increasingly civilians and in some cases, even the U.N. peacekeepers are involved.
Here's an excerpt of the article printed in the New York Times about this crime and efforts to correct these brutal attacks against Humanity:
" .... Congo, it seems, is finally facing its horrific rape problem, which United Nations officials have called the worst sexual violence in the world. Tens of thousands of women, possibly hundreds of thousands, have been raped in the past few years in this hilly, incongruously beautiful land. Many of these rapes have been marked by a level of brutality that is shocking even by the twisted standards of a place riven by civil war and haunted by warlords and drug-crazed child soldiers.
After years of denial and shame, the silence is being broken. Because of stepped-up efforts in the past nine months by international organizations and the Congolese government, rapists are no longer able to count on a culture of impunity. Of course, countless men still get away with assaulting women. But more and more are getting caught, prosecuted and put behind bars.
European aid agencies are spending tens of millions of dollars building new courthouses and prisons across eastern Congo, in part to punish rapists. Mobile courts are holding rape trials in villages deep in the forest that have not seen a black-robed magistrate since the Belgians ruled the country decades ago.
The American Bar Association opened a legal clinic in January specifically to help rape victims bring their cases to court. So far the work has resulted in eight convictions. Here in Bukavu, one of the biggest cities in the country, a special unit of Congolese police officers has filed 103 rape cases since the beginning of this year, more than any year in recent memory."
Please download the full article from the NY times.
Write a letter or email to:
Président Joseph Kabila
Présidence de la République
Kinshasa Gombe
République Démocratique du Congo
Email: pr@presidentrdc.cd or pp@presidentrdc.cd
Salutation: Your Excellency