Paper short abstract:

This paper explains strategies developed by wartime rape survivors who have children born of rape to transcend long-lasting trauma affecting social reintegration complexified by the dynamism of cultural tensions against children identity,a serious concern against mothers sociopsychological stability

Paper long abstract:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen a protracted war that has ripped apart relationships, making it difficult for rape survivors to move past their trauma and reintegrate into their local communities. Without classifying them, several academics have concentrated on the process of their recovery in general. Factors of long-lasting trauma affecting social reintegration of rape survivors impregnated by foreign rebels, and having children born of wartime rape, dynamism of cultural and relational tensions caused by the identity of children born of rape, which constitutes a serious concern against their mothers; and self-strategies developed by mothers to overcome those challenges have received little attention.

This paper aims to explain the causes of persistent trauma effects on the social reintegration of rape survivors, which are complexified by the burden of their traumatised offspring who are excluded from society and the coping mechanisms they have developed to deal with it. The findings of the study indicate that the severe mistreatment of children born of rape, which is justified by customary practices, has an impact on the mothers' ability to heal and reintegrate into society. Mothers have devised relational, physical, mental, spiritual, and sociocultural strategies to help them overcome the circumstances and defeat the established system that is patriarchal and patrilineal to ensure their sociopsychological stability.

To gather and examine the data, we used a qualitative approach. The population consists of wartime rape survivors having children born of rape, impregnated by foreign rebels; traditional and community leaders, located in eastern DRC.