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By Root 647 0

Women would not have happened without your undying support, unconditional love, dogged work, and lifelong lessons in compassion. And to my father, Stewart Shannon, who never failed to see the beauty underlying even the most terrifying places in the human spirit. Though you died before I could even pick Congo out on a map, you have nonetheless been my silent guide though all of it. What a rare treasure to have had a man of your depth and compassion as my father.

I extend my deep gratitude to Zainab Salbi for founding an organization with such heart and vision, for providing endless encouragement, for being my personal hero, and especially for being among the first in the world to serve Congolese women and to bring their stories to the world’s attention. Deep gratitude also to Oprah Winfrey, Lisa Ling, and Liz Brody for telling the stories no one else would touch, and to Nancy Haught, Michelle Hamilton, Jerome McDonnell, and Megan McMorris for their critically important early press coverage of Run for Congo Women.

Thank you to Alice Walker, for wise words at exactly the right moments, and to Lisa Jackson for being a mentor, a friend, and one of the first grassroots voices for Congo.

Thank you to every Run for Congo Women organizer past and present, including Geni Donnelly, Jen Parsons, Amy Hing, Gisela Ferrer, Monica Ianelli, Marya Garskof, Tracy Ronzio, Tracey Dennis, Lynda Hermsmeyer, Mary Jo Burkhart, Robin Potawsky, Ranny McKay, Stephanie Bond, Shannon Sansoterra, Susan and Laurie Rumker (I can’t wait to see the woman you become!), Becca Loring, Jesse Cox, Kristine Lebow, Ariel Sherman-Cox, Francisca Thelin, Zan Tibbs, Christina Pagetti, Tonya Sargent, Sara Ryan, Holly Gerloff, Monica Hunsberger, Lynda Sacamano, Carrie Kehoe, Nita Evele, and Carrie Crawford. Thanks to Jerry and Kristianyi Jones and Emily Deschanel for their critical early and continued support.

Thank you to my beloved family and friends, especially Lana Veenker, Tammy and Amit (Kai, Lia & Neha) Singh, Julie Shannon-Miller, Aria Shannon, Adriana and Julian Voss-Andreae, Shelley Jacobsen, Rick Jacobsen, Phil Atlakson, Garry Wade, Aileen Adams, Rae and Hack Fuller, Deidre McDerrmitt, Felicity Fenton, Sam Shannon, Dirk Simon, Kristin Leppert, Almine Barton, Tobias Hitsch, Lisa Maeckel, Shannon Meehan, Ashley Muhlherr and Tim. And, of course, to D, for being a refuge.

Thank you to the entire Women for Women International staff (past and present), especially Ricki Weisberg, Patty Pina, Trish Tobin, Alison Wheeler, Erica Tavares, Karen Sherman, and Jennifer Morabito.

My thanks go out to Dr. Richard Brennan of the IRC, Adam Hochschild, Eve Ensler and V-Day, John Prendergast and everyone at The Enough Project and Raise Hope for Congo Campaign, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Chicago Congo Coalition, Congo Global Action, and Friends of Congo (who were working on Congo ages before I came along).

Thanks to Christine Karumba and the entire Women for Women Congo staff. To Maurice, Serge, Jean Paul, Hortense, and Moses, because I was never really alone in Congo. To Murhabazi Namegabe and BVES, the Panzi Hospital and Dr. Roger, and Eric.

Thank you to my publisher and editor, Krista Lyons, who read the proposal and declared, “Seal Press needs to publish this book.” To my agent, Jill Marsal, for believing in the project and invaluable manuscript feedback, as well as to the Sandra Djikstra Literary Agency, especially Sandra Djikstra and Elise Capron.

Thanks to my writing mentors: Cynthia Whitcomb, Betty Sargent, and Maureen Barron. And special thanks to Blake Snyder, who spent many hours helping me find the elusive through-line, even if it meant looking petty or self-aggrandizing or just plain bad in the interest of an honest story. He passed away before reading this book, and thank you. You’re missed, Blake! To Yusef Komunyakaa, for writing a poem that would still haunt me eighteen years after reading it. To Wesleyan University Press, for permission to reprint it in this book. And to everyone who read and gave me feedback on the book proposal and