A Thousand Sisters_ My Journey Into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman - Lisa Shannon [0]
Title Page
Praise
Dedication
Foreword
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE - Congo Rushes
CHAPTER TWO - The Greenest Grass
CHAPTER THREE - Sometimes Death is More Like a Labor
CHAPTER FOUR - Lone Run
CHAPTER FIVE - Ms. Congo
CHAPTER SIX - I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke
CHAPTER SEVEN - The Real Thing
CHAPTER EIGHT - Souvenir
CHAPTER NINE - When I Cry
CHAPTER TEN - The Peanut Girl
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Militias in the Mist
CHAPTER TWELVE - Sugarcane
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - A Friend from Far Away
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - My Own Private Sister
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Gift from God
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Generose
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - The Road to Baraka
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - A Separate Peace
CHAPTER NINETEEN - An Odd Paradise
CHAPTER TWENTY - Water Water
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - The Long Drive Home
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - Orchid Safari Club
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - Mama Congo
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - El Presidente
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Criteria
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Parentheses
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - Goodbye Party
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - The End of Logic
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - These Fragments
CHAPTER THIRTY - In-Between
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - Missing
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - Salt
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - The Hidden Face
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - Furaha
EPILOGUE
MEMORIAL
KEY TERMS
Acknowledgements
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
FIND YOUR OWN FURAHA
SELECTED TITLES FROM SEAL PRESS
Copyright Page
MORE PRAISE FOR
A thousand Sisters AND LISA J. SHANNON
“Thousand Sisters brings to unforgettable life dozens of the women and girls caught in the crosshairs of the worst, and most underreported, humanitarian catastrophe of our time. It takes us into a literal heart of darkness on a personal journey that is by turns enchanting and chilling, always achingly honest, and never less than beautifully reported and wrenchingly true. Lisa Shannon’s brave book helps teach us how to care, and why.”
—LISA F. JACKSON, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR,
THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO
“Lisa Shannon’s beautifully written memoir is for anyone who thinks one person can’t make a difference in the world. A page turning read, A Thousand Sisters could inspire the biggest skeptic. Hard to put down.”
—EMILY DESCHANEL, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST
“A Thousand Sisters asks the question, ‘Can one person get off her couch and touch the lives of those in need on the other side of the world?’ This memoir answers, with poignancy and passion, ‘Yes, she can!’”
—JERRY FOWLER, PRESIDENT, SAVE DARFUR COALITION
FOR CONGO’S COUNTLESS QUIET HEROES
AND
STEWART SHANNON ,
MY FATHER AND NOW SILENT GUIDE
When we stood close
Together and your eyes
Looked into my
Eyes, I felt that
Invisible
Threads passed from
Your eyes into
My eyes and
Bound our hearts
Together.
When you left me, and journeyed across
The sea, it was as
If fine threads still united us,
And they were tearing at the wound.
BY EDVARD MUNCH
FOREWORD TO A THOUSAND SISTERS
BY ZAINAB SALBI
THE CONFLICT IN the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken more lives than any other war since World War II, resulting in the death of more than 5.4 million people and the ongoing rape of hundreds of thousands of women. Despite these gruesome statistics, the conflict rages on amidst muted international response and blanket impunity for rape and war crimes in which all sides are implicated. It has been more than 10 years now, but every day, scores of Congolese people are still falling victim to some of the worst acts of violence known to humanity (if you can believe there can be a worst act of violence)—from the killing and mutilation, to the raping of women, men and children, violence continues to happen and the number of victims continues to grow. The world has yet to rise up with the political will to stop this war and the atrocities committed against not only the Congolese people but all of humanity as well.
It is hard not to be angry when you have witnessed the rape of your mother in front of your eyes, the killing of your child, the burning of your