Horizons magazine is published by Presbyterian Women (PW) the national women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Issue link: http://horizons.epubxp.com/i/481579
10 D espite her physical ail- ments, Agnes Tshimbola was determined to under- take the two-day, 42-mile walk from her village, Beneleka, to Demba. The estranged wife of a polygamous, abusive husband, she has become a women's rights campaigner for her church. That day, she set out to share with me stories of success from her mission to end violence against women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bringing about those successes has become a life mission for Agnes. During a seminar on women's and children's rights Agnes found her calling. The seminar was one of seven seminars the Women and Families Department (DFF) of the Presbyterian Church in Congo (CPC) organized with help from a Thank Offering grant. Emboldened by the seminar, Agnes now offers training throughout her community and beyond to prevent other women from suffering endemic forms of violence like she had endured. Violence Against Women Agnes, a mother of five children, had been married for 25 years when her husband, a former soldier who joined the police force, started abusing alcohol and drugs. He became promiscuous and eventually took a second wife, who lived elsewhere. Because of his lifestyle choices, Agnes and her husband fought often and he beat her. Agnes showed me the distorted and paralyzed fingers of her left hand, a permanent reminder of his abuse. When her husband threatened to kill her, she fled with the children, settling on land the family owned roughly 90 miles away. Her hus- band sent his other wife to chase Agnes out and sell the property. Lacking any defense, Agnes yielded and started renting elsewhere. It was then that she decided to become more active in the life of the church. She started serving as an elder in the Beneleka congregation, and was later elected as the CPC women's president for Djinanga Presbytery and the vice president for the North West Synod in West Kasai Province. Through her church involvement, she learned about the DFF seminar on women's and chil- dren's rights. Agnes' ordeal is representative of thousands, if not millions, of Con- golese women whose basic rights are violated routinely. Their safety and self-determination are compro- mised, destroyed even, by societal tolerance of domestic violence, cus- tomary practices and sexual or eco- nomic exploitation. The CPC addresses these systemic injustices in a number of ways. Ending Systemic Violence Against Women and Children BY CHRISTI BOYD Agnes Tshimbola, advocate for women