Living Peace 7: Letters of Wars and Peace
10. 2. 2025 | Politics
At the end of 2022, we at the Peace Institute, started organizing a series of public events entitled Thinking Peace as a response to the multitude of armed conflicts around the world. Since the world has been spiralling into dangerous global militarization, we wanted to rethink what is war, what is peace, and more importantly how to ensure a stable peace which would not be quickly engulfed in new conflicts and wars.
We want to expand on the Thinking Peace cycle and add new dimensions to imagining peace. With the help of amazing individuals worldwide, we are beginning a new series of public letters written by people whose lives were interrupted by war or who found themselves in a recent armed conflict. We have titled this series of letters as Living Peace to emphasize how important peace is and that people often only realize this importance when facing the brutality of war. We want to illustrate how people from Palestine, Ukraine, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Congo, Yemen and elsewhere think publicly about peace. How do the inhabitants of these regions face wars and military conflicts? What lessons can we learn from their intimate experiences and existential fears?
While opinions of world leaders who justify or even defend wars, dominate today’s media spheres, we want to amplify the voices that defend peace, reject violence and recognize equal rights for all. Having experienced war, they understand why it is essential to live in peace.
The seventh letter we are publishing was written by Divine from DR Congo:
Our country is rich in minerals highly sought after by its neighbors, but we feel that the defense of the country and its wealth is not taken seriously. For more than two years now, we have been attacked and troubled in our daily lives, while those who are supposed to save us do not engage in doing so.
I pray that our authorities prioritize the issue of peace, as we are heading into the third year of the occupation of our lands. I believe that an honest dialogue with the aggressors causing us harm will be the solution because the voice of weapons has clearly failed and caused the deaths of so many innocent people. We are tired of burying our loved ones, of seeing our children miss out on joy and of seeing them grow up in such difficult conditions. They are supposed to be the future of this country, so they have the right to a life that allows them to become conscious citizens capable of working for a general good and well-being.
LETTER BY DIVINE FROM DR CONGO:
Open Letter from a Witness to the War and its Devastation in Eastern DRC
I am Divine Pitale, I am 25 years old and I am from Kibumba, in North Kivu, DRC. I am a wife and mother of three children, the youngest of whom was conceived and born in the Buhene displacement camp. I saw my life change in 2022 when the town of Kibumba was taken by M23 rebels. My husband and I fled with our family and came to seek refuge in Goma, close to Rwandan border. We have thus experienced several traumas related to this war, the loss of our belongings, and disappearance of some people close to us with whom we peacefully shared life in our village.
Because of this war, I saw my way of life turn for the worse as my family’s life completely changed. Having left my house empty, I found myself and my family in the camp north of Goma, in Buhene, in difficult conditions of unimaginable unsanitary circumstances full of diseases, accompanied by inaccessibility to healthcare, etc. Forced to share a tarp with my husband and children, I saw my family’s harmony deteriorate. A single room that serves as our living room, kitchen, and worse still, bedroom for parents and children, not to mention the daily struggle we must endure each passing day hoping to find something to eat.
My (eldest) child’s education was disrupted; he was already in second grade of elementary school but since our displacement happened, he has never set foot in a school again. It is similar for all others who came with us to this camp. We don’t know when this will end, nor when the children will finally return to school. It has now been two years since my children and most of the children in the camp have been able to study.
At the camp, each passing day we bury many people who die due to poor living conditions and lack of medical care. For example, when I gave birth to my last child, I experienced great trauma and almost died. I did not receive the appropriate natal care that a woman needs in such circumstances. I gave birth at night, and in the morning I was asked to leave the hospital bed and go home, while I was still tired and unable to stand. I was made to understand that since care is free at the camp, and there are many other women who need to give birth, I had to choose between staying at the health center and sleeping on the floor or returning to my shack. I decided to return in this difficult state, with all the consequences it had on my health.
I sincerely wish this war would end, so that we, the people of Eastern Congo, can live in peace again and return to our daily activities. The authorities in Kinshasa may not know how much they are making us suffer by not seeking adequate solutions to resolve this conflict. But it is us, the people, who suffer as thousands of Congolese die every day. Our country is rich in minerals highly sought after by its neighbors, but we feel that the defense of the country and its wealth is not taken seriously. For more than two years now, we have been attacked and troubled in our daily lives, while those who are supposed to save us do not engage in doing so.
I pray that our authorities prioritize the issue of peace, as we are heading into the third year of the occupation of our lands. I believe that an honest dialogue with the aggressors causing us harm will be the solution because the voice of weapons has clearly failed and caused the deaths of so many innocent people. We are tired of burying our loved ones, of seeing our children miss out on joy and of seeing them grow up in such difficult conditions. They are supposed to be the future of this country, so they have the right to a life that allows them to become conscious citizens capable of working for a general good and well-being.
I would like to see children return to school, families reunite, life returning to normal, and peace reign. There is no reason to continue with the war because it has in no way benefited the Congolese people. We all deserve to live a peaceful life, freed from the torments of war and a life that will allow us to feel that we are dignified people. The government should acknowledge its responsibilities and act with all its might so that peace returns to our regions once again.
