Women and War
Guide our Feet into the Way of Peace
Suggested Prayers and Litanies

Women and War

A Reflection by Kim Sung Ran, SCM Korea

Human being's history is filled with war. We could say that the human history is the history of war. In any war, women and children have always inevitably become the most serious victims. As we remember the cruel massacres and wars in the 20th century, stories of what happened to women during war: torture, prison camps, the Holocaust, rape as an ethnic cleansing and sexual slavery, it is again sad to know that the new millennium of the 21st century began with terror and war behind promises of peace and reconciliation for the atrocities happened in the last century. I can still clearly remember a Korean Comfort Woman, Jung Hack Soon's testimony.

Next day, a soldier came and took us one by one. I was taken to an officer's room. Standing next to his bed, he tried to embrace me. When I resisted, he slapped me on my cheeks. I rubbed my palms in pleading, asking him to show mercy. He said I should do what he ordered me to do, and when I said I couldn't do it even if I was killed, he tore my skirt. I was wearing a black skirt and a white blouse, and my hair was braided. My underwear showed, but I kneeled and said I couldn't do it. He pulled me up by my braid, and cut open my underwear with his sword. I fainted. A soldier came and took me back. I followed him crying, wrapping myself with my skirt and holding my underwear. I couldn't walk well because it hurt so much. The woman who had been there before us said, "See? We can't get out of here alive."

One day when I couldn't work because my uterus was swollen and bleeding, an officer came to me and ordered me to suck his penis. I said, "I can eat your shit, I can't do this." He shouted, "I'll kill this bitch" and beat me and threw me around. I fainted, and when I woke up, I was told I was unconscious for three days. Some officers bound me and did whatever pleased them saying I was defiant. I grind my teeth with indignation as they satisfied their physical desire by all means. I was beaten many times for my resistance. If I fainted, the owner doused cold water on me. Then, he confined me in a room and didn't give me food.

The Japanese soldiers marched into the yard bringing many Chinese women bound with a rope. They disrobed the women, tied them to the board and gang-raped them in front of us. Many soldiers waited in line for their turn. They tortured the women after raping them. They enjoyed watching women suffer from the torture, throwing powdered red pepper into the lower part of women, slashing women indiscriminately with a knife. Some even doused oil on women and lit a match. Under their unimaginable torture, the women died, one after another. After witnessing such a horrible scene, we were too terrorised to disobey him. We just got through each day.

The violence against women is the most powerful weapon for men in the war. Why and how did this occur, especially in a war? What propelled soldiers to rape their friends, neighbors, and co-workers? The violence against women in the war is part of a destructive force against women, which included genocide and ethnic cleansing. This "war on women" has important implications for all humanity. Women have never been regarded as the equals of men in the patriarchal society. They are perceived as "lower" than men, and are expected to act meek and obedient in their homes and workplaces. This subtle and ingrained disrespect of women paved the way for the mass rapes that occurred in wars. Women were easy targets for male soldiers because they were perceived as defenseless. This male dominance is also evident in the way that violence was used to instill such fear in women. They did it to humiliate women and showed women their power. Sexual violence thus becomes the weapon. The violence against women as a powerful weapon during wars proves the war itself, whatever the reasons and purposes are, is the production of male-centered patriarchal culture. As the Comfort Woman's testimony tells us, the women who were raped during a war will never forget the atrocities committed against them. There will always be intense psychological fear of men, depression, and an inherent distrust of others; these are common experiences of rape survivors. Not too far away, according to some information and news, most Afghanistan refugees are women and children. They are now dying of famine and illness.

However women are not powerless as they try to overcome their powerlessness. They try to make peace within themselves out of their own experiences. As in the cases of many Comfort Women, they begin to reflect and articulate what they had gone through and seek a redress for themselves.

Recently, I met a woman who was leaving for Iraq as a human shield. She told me that as a feminist, she could not stay at home watching women and children are dying in Iraq. She felt her body is aching and this aching and torn body is the body of Christ on the cross. Now as people's endless greed kills and tears the body of life, how can we heal ourselves in this history of war?

Guide our Feet into the Way of Peace
(Luke 1:79)

by Lilith M. Usog

To talk about peace when we are faced with conflict situations seems to be an ambitious task. But strengthened by our Christian ideals and resources from the Oriental religion we are still convinced that PEACE will not be a remote possibility. Surely, it will not come in a silver platter but through hard-earned efforts of peace making. We are challenged to make peace our mantra (prayer word) so we can contribute in sending positive energies into our war-torn and divided world at the same time we can make peace as a way of life. What better occasion to reflect on peace when the Bush government is determined to wage war on Iraq; when bombings in Mindanao has no let-up and when we are continuously bombarded with foreign goods while our people go hungry. With fervent longing we echo the prophecy of Zechariah..."guide our feet into the way of peace".

Where war and violence seems to be a constant in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Israel, Palestine, Philippines and many other countries let us not be calloused by its effects. While violence exudes male arrogance, the women and children suffer the most. Let me share the longings of other women and children on PEACE:

1. Afghanistan is still fresh in our memory. Claudia Torrens in her article quoted what the Afghan minister of education Maliha Zulfacar said: "Afghanistan is a ground-zero after the impact of America's war on terrorism has had on it. Most of our schools have been bombed and destroyed, there is an inability of Afghans to continue teaching and many educated Afghan people are leaving the country. The current generation of uneducated Afghans is one of the major problems the country is facing now. What Afghan women need is to be more confident and to speak about their rights. They still have fear; they still don't feel secure and that has to change".
   We also hear of the heightening tension between Israel and Palestine.
2. Israel. Donna Spiegelman in her interview with Hannah Safran, an Israeli feminist peace activist, shared the following thoughts. The Women in Black in Haifa continue to hold vigil that takes place once a week. They hold placards/signs against the occupation. The vigils started in 1988, when the first Intifada began, and the number of vigils has grown significantly ever since. In an historical perspective, Women in Black have had a significant moral impact on Israeli society.
   Hannah Safran said: "But I am not an expert about Palestinians. I'm really concerned about the future of Israel. And I'm convinced that the well-being of Palestinians is the only way for Israel to live as a peaceful and normal society."
3. Kosovo. In February 2002 as many as 80 Albanians in Kosovo were killed by Serbian police forces. More than half of the victims were women and children. Houses in almost a dozen villages were bombed and destroyed, and hundreds of families are still hiding in the woods outside of their villages, too terrified to return to their homes. Starvation among these people is heightened, since aid organisations have been prevented from reaching them. Visitors to the area have heard reports of random arrests and beatings of Albanians on the streets by policemen.
4. Iraq. Around 4,500 children under the age of five die every month of starvation, malnutrition and lack of medical supplies. They are dying as a result of economic sanctions placed on Iraq by the United Nations, under pressure from the United States. A visitor to Iraq was recently told by a woman there, "We are ground down, exhausted, by years of death. Since the Gulf War 600,000 children have died of malnutrition and a lack of medicine. We live with death. Somehow these years of deprivation and isolation have eroded such minor questions as to whether one might die next week because of a bomb from the air, or in ten years' time from another cause. The question was whether after death there is life, and whether there is God who hears us. It is as if the embargo had sometimes seemed to shut out even God."

There is a dissonance between the biblical peace and the stories of women and children in war torn countries. Peace means something much more than the absence of war. There are two roads used in the original languages of the Bible that means "peace". In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament the word is "Shalom" and in the Greek language of the New Testament, it is "Eirene", which has the same meaning as "Shalom". The root meaning of Shalom is completeness, wholeness; another meaning is peaceable or time of peace. True peace excludes nobody from the circle of harmony and completeness. The Bible also refers to peace as prosperity and security (which includes economic and political security referred to in I Chronicles 4:40; 22:9, Isaiah 32:18). To sum up the Bible describes peace as a state of total well-being, inner harmony and oneness between God and human beings.

Grounded on these realities we join our voices with other peace-loving individuals and groups who are clamouring for peace. With these glaring realities we need to act and not just stay complacent. What better picture can we paint but creating circles of peace in our own homes, in places where we work and in the larger community. We are again summoned by our faith, as Christians to take on Christ, the Prince of Peace. The peace that Jesus gives is a transforming and harmonising peace rooted in compassion and strong sense of justice. Here we are impelled to participate in peace-making wherever we are. It could be educating for peace; registering our protest for peace; making our voices heard for peace. Whatever the case maybe - stand and be counted! And like Zechariah we implore the liberating Spirit to guide our feet into the way of peace. Go forth and work for peace strengthened by this blessing:

Deep peace of the Running Wave to you.
Deep peace of the Flowing Air to you.
Deep peace of the Quiet Earth to you.
Deep peace of the Shining Stars to you.
Deep peace of Jesus of Peace to you. (Celtic Benediction)

Guide questions for reflection:

1. What is Peace for me? What is Peace for the Women in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Mindoro evacuees, Palestine?

2. How can I contribute in peace-making? What concrete actions should I take?

3. Where am I called to sow the seeds of peace?

Suggested Prayers and Litanies

Contributed by Jane Ella Montenegro and Lydia Niguidula

Pray not for Christians
Or Muslims.
Pray not for Arabs
Or Jews,
Or Palestinians
Or Israelis.
Pray not for Saddam Hussein
Or George Bush.
But pray rather 
For ourselves
That we might not
Divide them in our prayers
But keep them both together
In our hearts in the name of peace.
Amen.

(adapted from a prayer of a Palestinian Christian)

O God of Peace, we pray for

Peace in the midst of violence in all forms and the impending war in the Middle East.

O God of Peace, we pray for

Equal treatment between and among women and men, old and young, weak and strong nations, Christians and non-Christians.

O God of Peace, we pray to

Assuage hatred and greed in the human heart and change them to compassion for all beings and all creation.

O God of Peace, we pray for

Calmness in the midst of mounting anxiety, escalating prices, and worsening conflicts in human relationships.

In the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Leader 1: O God of Creation, when stomachs are famished and throats are parched with thirst, when bones are broken and bodies are bleeding to death because of war and violence...

People: How can we praise and thank you, God?

Leader 2: O God of Peace and Justice, when truth is twisted to serve evil interests and human rights are not respected by the leaders of the land. When the mighty design advanced technology and the weak can hardly defend their dignity...

People: how can we rejoice and be glad, O God?

Leader 1: As you heard your people cry in Goshen, they cry still today. Please hear them now.

People: Be merciful to us, O God. Wash away our evils ways and wicked thoughts.

Leader 2: We have been selfish by not sharing the giftedness and resources you have given us. We look down on others whom you have made in your own image.

People: Forgive us, O God, we pray.

Leader 1: We oppress others by denying them the chance to be free - to love and be happy, and to seek their identities.

People: Forgive us, O God, we pray.

Leader 2: We have sinned at all levels as individuals, as families, as a church, as a government - hardening our hearts to the needs of the least of our sisters and brothers.

People: Forgive us, O God, we pray.

Leader 1: We have sinned against your creation, O God, disrespecting other beings, making extinct gentle and rare life-forms all in the name of amusement and armaments.

People: Forgive us, O God, we pray.

Leader 2: How shall we answer our children's children when they asked, "Why didn't you save the forests, the clean water and air for us?"

(Silence)

Leader 1 & 2: How shall we answer you, O God, when you ask?
"Why didn't you treat each other as equals?"
"Why did you choose war to peace, oppression instead of justice, and sorrow instead of joy?"

(Silence)

Song of Penitence: "Kyrei Eleison" (6 x)