By Kim Renner, Staff Writer
Think of your worst day. What happens on this day? Do you get a bad grade on a homework assignment, embarrass yourself by tripping, or maybe have a bad breakup? Maybe all of these things happen and more, but think about how you handle these bad days. Then put yourself in the shoes of the oppressed women of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Ruined” debuted during Kennesaw State’s Pan-Africa week. The play is about the sexual violence and oppression of those women. They face tyranny by soldiers who are obstructive to anyone that crosses their path. Many of the characters had been violently raped by multiple men and all at once lost everything they loved.
In their culture, the families of these poor women are forced to turn them away once something so horrid has happened to them. The women are thought to have been “dishonored” by the experiences they were forced through. They are considered “ruined.” They are left to the streets to fend for themselves and are otherwise abandoned and neglected.
When this happens to someone, they expect, need and depend on loving rehabilitation and being surrounded by family to help them recuperate from the tragedy. They are broken down and want nothing more than to cry in their husband or mother’s arms in sorrow. But these women “got the back of their hand.”
One woman’s story in the play is told with more intense detail than the others and it is absolutely heart breaking. This is depicted spectacularly in the performance. Her name is Salina. She was working on the plants in her front lawn with her infant child nearby when a group of soldiers came up to her and attacked her, raping her so many times that her husband refused her. She was “ruined.”
The worst part of this story is that her child began crying during the incident. She explained that she never cried and was “a good baby.” But that day she cried loudly, so one of the men killed her right in front of her eyes as she continued to be tortured.
Salina, a girl named Sophie, and eight other girls live in a whorehouse run by Mama Nadi. For many of them this is a much better situation than the alternative. We find out toward the end of the play that Mama Nadi was “ruined” as well. The main characters often have flashbacks of the incidents they endured that changed their lives forever.
After being shunned from their villages, Mama Nadi apparently pitied them and took them in, giving them food and shelter in exchange for their ‘services’ to the soldiers that came into her establishment. Another main character named Christian came into the house often to visit Mama and his niece Sophie, who he brought there in the beginning of the play.
Because Mama is a good friend of Christian’s, she agrees to keep Sophie from having to pleasure the men. This happens anyway at one point because a man who holds power within the war decides he wants Sophie, forcing Mama to make her do whatever he wants because she fears for their safety and the existence of her establishment.
Later on, Salina dies from a bad miscarriage. She was impregnated by one of the visiting men. This is not before her husband, Fortune, comes looking for her, regretting what he had done. He tries to take her home, but Salina refuses to see him because of how he treated her.
In the end, they lost Salina, but Mama Nadi learns to love again and finally let go of her anguish. She ends up with Christian and learns to be happy and accept of his affection. These women become amazingly strong spirited, simply because they are forced to be. They continue struggling and surviving in an impossible world that has all odds against them.
When you have a bad day, think of these miraculous women who endured. Most of us do not know pain like this. Learning about and familiarizing ourselves with other cultures like this one could humble us all. Be thankful for your blessings because these characters were hopeful when they had every reason to be broken. Instead, they survived.
