Germanna students and faculty will lead a Democratic Republic of the Congo "TEACH IN" about rape being used as a weapon of war in that nation from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20 at Sealy Auditorium on the Fredericksburg Campus in Spotsylvania. Donations will be accepted.

In addition to talking about the effect the conflict in the Congo is having on women and girls there, GCC students will be giving presentations about the arts of the there- the music, dance, photography and crafts. Students will also read a short story written by a Congoese woman writer.

"We want to show the country as having a wonderful history as well," said Mary McKearney, a GCC faculty member who teaches Women in Humanities.

According to a report Tuesday in the New Haven (Conn.) Register, about 200,000 rapes have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1996, including an estimated 3,500 this year alone, focusing attention on gender-based violence as a weapon of war.

In an email to the paper, Christine Schuler-DeSchryver, a Congolese human rights activist, calls it “femicide.”

“If we had to relay the stories and atrocities we face here, nobody will believe us. New words have to be created to describe this femicide.”