2nd August
2013
GenoCost
On the 2nd
Aug 2013, I with your Miss Congo 1st
Runners up Leonne Losele went to an event called GENOCOST.
The event was to
mark, and start a long tradition of having a memorial day to reflect on the
lives of those, who are no longer with us because of the conflict happening in
the East of Congo.
The word “GENOCOST’
was put together by the organisers, essentially what it does is sums up what is
happening in the Congo right now.
GENO stands for
Genocide, though the international community refuses to recognise what is
happening in the Congo as such, bottom line is that is what is happening. Systematic
slaughter of a population is Genocide, it happened during the 2nd
World War, it happened in Rwanda in 1994 then Bosnia in 1995. All of those
events have taken their place in our history books, as we as human beings need to
understand history in order to learn from it. Well a genocide is happening in
Congo right now, what are we doing about it.?
Is the life of a
Congolese worth nothing that, the world does not want to recognise what is
going on and put a stop to it?
No.
This is where the
latter of the name comes in; COST, the genocide in Congo right now comes with a
cost. Not just the cost of millions of lives but the cost of minerals. Big
names in the international community are benefiting from the conflicts, we as
citizens of these countries are benefiting too.
There is an economic
side to this genocide.
Congo’s minerals
constitute a great deal of the world’s booming technology business; Congo is
the reason why I have an IPhone, IPad and Mac, same with millions of us around
the world.
So it’s a question
of, is the world prepared to sacrifice technology for the lives of people they
do not know?
Is Apple willing to
put a stop to this by providing with conflict free minerals? Or is that going
to cost Apple too much?
It was a really
insightful event, the beautiful Leonne Losele (Miss Congo 1st
Runners Up) and I, went away with loads to think about.
From the speakers to the poets, and the
heartfelt candle lighting that marked every million of those who died, really
touched me.
I hope to see you
there next year, whether you are Congolese or not, the 2ND August,
put it in your diaries and I will see you next year.
If you want to learn
more about GENOCOST, and the organisation behind it
Here are their
details:
Thank you for reading
Kimya, Elikia, Bolingo
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