PH O TO BY JO A N M A R C U S
She went to the
Congo to help
women whose
bodies were
ravaged by
sexual violence.
Then a cancer
diagnosis led
Ensler to
reconnect with
her own body -
and the world
BY ROSETTE ROYALE
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ituated in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
is a country that’s green and red at the same
time. The equatorial climate allows palm trees
flourish and provides lush habitat for the world’s
only wild population of bonobos, primates that are
some of humanity’s closest evolutionary relatives.
The soil contains untapped raw minerals estimated
to be worth more than $25 trillion, making it a
country that, along with having some of the
world’s poorest people, possesses some of the
globe’s most valuable mineral resources.
The DRC is also the focal point for what’s
known as the African World War, a conflict
involving nine African nations that began in 1998.
Violence and disease stemming from that conflict
have resulted in the deaths of more than five
million people. The Journal of the American
Medical Association reported in 2010 that 40
percent of women in the eastern Congo have
experienced rape, sexual violence or both. The UN
says it’s the highest percentage in the world.
On one level, such troubling statistics motivated
Tony Award-winning playwright Eve Ensler to go
there. Known for her seminal work “The Vagina
Monologues,” Ensler traveled to the war-ravaged
country because, as she told the New York Times
in February 2011, she wanted to help “build an
army of women.” Not that she planned to arm
them with rifles and bullets.
S
Instead, she helped Congolese women build a
center where they could gain skills they could use
to become leaders in their communities. The
center is called City of Joy.
While the completion of the center filled Ensler
to with joy, her time assisting women in DRC
coincided with a personal crisis: She was
diagnosed with uterine cancer.
She underwent months of treatment in the
United States, including a nine-hour surgery in
which surgeons removed numerous organs,
including her uterus, ovaries, cervix and part of
her vagina.
She balances the events in DRC with the illness
in her body in her newest book “In the Body of the
World: A Memoir” (Metropolitan, $25). It’s a
mesmerizing story. Ensler tells it in a voice that’s
both sharp and soothing. She writes openly about
how cancer affected her own body, including her
ileostomy, a surgery that brings part of the small
intestine outside of the skin’s surface in order to
collect intestinal waste in a bag.
In recent weeks, Ensler has been on a book
tour, presented by Northwest Associated Arts,
Planned Parenthood and The Stranger, talking
about her commitment to stop violence against
women and her own cancer. In this interview, we
also talked about what led her to Congo, her time
working at a homeless shelter and how we can end
violence in the world.
R osette Royale: What caused you to go to the
Democratic Republic o f the Congo?
E ve E nsler: I went about seven years ago at
the request of Dr. Denis Mukwege, who is the
director of the Panzi Hospital and is a doctor, a
surgeon and an OB/GYN, who has been working in
the middle of the war for the last 14 years, sewing
up women as fast as the militias are ripping them
apart. I had interviewed him at the behest of the
UN and was completely overwhelmed by his
nobility and devotion and brilliance. And he asked
if I would come to help with their efforts. So that’s
what (took) me there.
R.R.: lo u r book is called “In the Body o f the
World,” and it draws up a lot o f ideas. One is about
landscape. So how would you describe the Congo?
E.E.: Well, I would say the Congo, particularly
Eastern Congo and the city of Bukavu, is one of
the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. It’s some
of the most fertile, green, gorgeous land, and Lake
Kivu is this stunning body of water, which can be
kind of sea blue or sky blue, or it can turn black,
depending upon the day. A friend of mine once
said, “It’s hell in paradise.” Earth and birds and
fruit and mangoes and avocados and bananas: life.
And then this incredible violence being enacted
both on the landscape and on the minds and on
the bodies of people, particularly the women.
See EVE ENSLER, page 10
Inside
Going to the wire
on Section 8 bil
Reaching out in
S t Johns
Rhythm
national
H ousing advocates,
landlords spare over
new requirements
Community comes
together to help
people on the streets
M usician Chaz
M ortimer
combines tradition
and technology
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