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From Rev Ruth Scott, Anglican Vicar in Richmond:

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Recently I was working with survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was an experience that got me thinking about the meaning of Easter. It鈥檚 hard to express the respect I feel for these women who have suffered so much and yet carry on against enormous odds. If they get pregnant as a result of assault they鈥檙e usually thrown out of their homes, but their attackers are rarely, if ever, brought to justice.

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Many men accept and perpetrate the abuse of women citing selective and literal interpretations of biblical texts.听 The women get the blame and lose everything. In response to a question I asked on the first day, one survivor said, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 answer your question because I don鈥檛 exist.鈥� Over the days we spent together the women found great strength in one another. They began to reclaim their identity as beautiful, gifted, intelligent human beings. Our sessions often began with spontaneous singing that erupted into dance as the women let the music fill them. They sang with their whole body, and laughed uproariously at my inhibited British attempts to do the same. 鈥淪inging is where we experience joy,鈥� said Mama Adele, one of my helpers. In the midst of so much suffering the transformation was wonderful to witness - points of resurrection amid crucifying experience. These women teach me that Easter isn鈥檛 an annual remembrance of an ancient story. It鈥檚 what happens on a daily basis, even in seemingly God-forsaken places, when we begin to get to grips with death-dealing experiences and transform them into something joyfully life-giving. It鈥檚 when we break out of the tomb in which the inhumanity of others has placed us, and stand defiantly in the sun.听