This Up Front article was written by author Susan Minot, focusing on the sexual abuse and murder of young women who were victims of Joseph Kony and his followers of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Not only does Minot use the article to bring attention to the novel she has recently finished regarding the topic, but to bring attention to these events in general that we know so little about.
As many of you already know, Joseph Kony is a radical leader of a self proclaimed "army" infamously known for kidnapping young women and subjecting them to sexual slavery and/or death: the Lord's Resistance Army. Kony is now in hiding and has kept a consistently low activity rate, but his crimes were climactic in the late '90's and early 2000's. A particularly well-known event took place in 1996 in Uganda, Africa at an Italian-Catholic boarding school for young women. Kony and his men broke in and kidnapped 139 girls between ages 8 and 18. Sister Rachele Fassera, a nun at the institution, went after Kony and pleaded with him to leave the girls and take her instead. He declined her offer but agreed to leave behind 109 girls and take only 30.
When this story was made known to the public, Minot was mesmerized by it. She decided that she needed to write about what had taken place. If these girls couldn't speak for themselves, she would act as their voice through her writings. After traveling to Uganda, speaking to teachers from the school including Fassera herself and to 3 of the 30 girls that were kidnapped, she has composed an entire novel titled Thirty Girls based on this event.
What makes this story so powerful (after all, there is a certain theme that must be maintained) is Minot's passion. Whether she is aware of it or not, it is directly reflected in her writing. She is correct in her assumption that these young women will probably never be able to have their own voice on the situation. The pain they went through remains, for the most part, undiscovered and ignored. Minot volunteering to bring their story to the attention of the rest of the world is the most powerful thing anyone has done for it.
For as long as we can remember, it hasn't been easy for women to succeed and influence the world. In order to do this, we must stick together and look out for one another. I'm sure the young women Minot wrote about see her as their savior. She set them free through her novel, and that is a supreme example of women sticking together. Minot and these women are from two very different cultures with two very different views on life; the one thing they have in common is the desire to make a difference in our world.
If you want to learn more about Susan Minot's novel, Thirty Girls: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/books/review/thirty-girls-by-susan-minot.html?_r=0
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