What is SAFER?

SAFER stands for Social Aid for the Elimination of Rape. Its goal is to address the immediate medical needs of sexual violence survivors by providing a sustainable source of medical supplies, equipment, and expertise to health care centres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition to this, SAFER strives to support and initiate education and vocational programs to alleviate the socioeconomic impact on survivors to end the cycle of violence.

SAFER practises a 100% policy, where all donations are used to purchase supplies for the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu, on behalf of the Canadian Embassy in Kinshasa respectively. The Panzi Hospital is the only hospital dedicated to helping rape victims of in the Congo. It stands as a glimmer of hope to all those affected by sexual violence in the country, where rape is used as a weapon of war.

Over the years, SAFER has held benefit concerts and various International Frisbee, postcard, and transport campaigns to purchase medical supplies for the Panzi Hospital, including: sutures, arterial clamps, tissue clamps, forceps, dissection scissors, epidural kits, laryngoscopes, urethral catheters, specula, knife handles, and two pulse oximeters.

To find out more about SAFER and what it is doing to help rape victims in the Congo, visit http://www.saferworld.ca.