It’s a question I will ask myself many times over the next few days.

It is a Thursday afternoon. I am in Mangango, a small village alongside a rutted, red clay road in the Central African bush. Most of the residents are female, and almost all of them have been raped at least once.

The town had been occupied by different factions during the decades of civil war in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of the village’s men had been killed or conscripted by soldiers. Most of those remaining were interested only in taking care of themselves or feeding addictive habits. The chief is an uneducated but charismatic and dedicated woman.

Every time the town was overrun by one of the more than 20 violent groups operating in the region, the soldiers would take whatever – and whoever –they wanted. Every time a group moved out, the village was left with less and more.

Less, because food, livestock, tools, and money were taken. Because other homes and crops had been destroyed. Because residents were forced to go along as soldiers or sex slaves.

More, because there was more brokenness, and pain. More children born as a result of rapists violating women. More people with AIDS, another long term gift from soldiers using rape as a tool of war.

Even now, back in the safety and comfort of the US, thinking about my visit brings tears, and a soul-crushing sense of helplessness. But God is not helpless, and neither are the Congolese.

Amazingly, during the war thousands of rapes were reported in Mangango every year. In reality, the actual numbers were probably twice as high. In 2008, only a single incident of rape was reported. Again, it is likely that more went unreported, but praise God for such a drastic improvement!

I was in the region with Niyi Daramola, Worldlink’s Africa Coordinator. We had come to visit some of our partners, and we saw firsthand what God was doing with the Focus Congo initiative Worldlink had recently  launched.