Thank you so much to everyone for talking with me today! I'm off this thread for now, but will answer questions at a later point if you still want to leave them.
Was this an "open secret" like Harvey Weinstein, or were the authorities genuinely unaware of the actions of this man and his followers? Is there any way to help these victims? Any specific organizations to fund? I know it's hard to help a specific person or group via NGO, but I've been traumatized and then expected to just get better.
They have been disabled as surely as if they'd lost an arm, but that's going to be invisible to the world. I see a certain benefit to that invisibility, but the cost will be help and healing they'll need for years. Sorry for pontificating.
Are you okay? 2021 has been unkind, and this is an intense story.
What do you do to keep yourself sane? The stories are so dark and so heavy, that even reading them is difficult to bear. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to know people firsthand and see what they went through. How do you remove yourself from the stories, so you can live your own life?
Is David able to live with his family again and what is he doing now that this case is over? What a special person he is. Through your writing I feel like I know him.
Given all you endured and learned while working on this story, what are the "teachable moments" you'd like other journalists to understand about what you shared? And, is there anything in your reporting or the efforts you undertook that, if you could do them over, you would do completely different?
I know I'm very late, but if you see this, I'm curious about part 3. At the end, you write:
"A few days after our detention, we met up with more than a dozen families of the girls (and some of the girls themselves) at a secret location.
While seated in a crowded, dark wooden space, a vaguely distracting pig munching on the grass just outside the open doorway grunted, alerting us to two men in suits approaching. While they were still out of earshot, Jack jumped up to go see what was going on.
The two men, it turned out, were from ANR.
They didn’t know why we were assembled, and they were not at all happy about it.
We all froze."
How did you all get out of or through this? Did you run and hide? Did Jack talk your way out? Did you all lie and say you were asking these families about helpful/harmful NGOs? Or was the cat just basically out of the bag at that point? And did it make interviewing the girls harder - for them or you - after that kind of confrontation? Or were they/you just sort of used to intimidating tactics like this (if one can ever truly become acclimated to fear)?
I’m late to the AMA and I’m trying to read quickly through the comments to see if this has been asked- has writing this substack been therapeutic for you in terms of processing the trauma? Also, have you been able to keep in touch with the families and the girls in Kavumu?
Then, do you write thousands of words and cut it down? Or are you more economical when you write. With a story like this, I imagine it’s especially important to trust your editor. Did you? Also, how does fact checking work for a story where the sources are in Africa and not necessarily easily contactable. How does fact checking work for a story like this regardless of location, actually. I imagine the staff need to be mindful to not retraumatise your sources? I also imagine there’s a high level of trust in you, as the journalist? No need to answer all these!
Also, did the people you spoke to in the DRC ever contact you to tell you how disheartened they were at the lack of progress? If so, what was your response?
Thank you so much to everyone for talking with me today! I'm off this thread for now, but will answer questions at a later point if you still want to leave them.
Thank you for posting the pictures along with the posts. It is very hard to visualize what the Congo looks like as well as the dwellings and clothes.
How difficult was the culture shock when you left DRC and returned to New York?
This is not so much a question as a wish: I really hope you’re going to turn this particular story into a book...
Was this an "open secret" like Harvey Weinstein, or were the authorities genuinely unaware of the actions of this man and his followers? Is there any way to help these victims? Any specific organizations to fund? I know it's hard to help a specific person or group via NGO, but I've been traumatized and then expected to just get better.
They have been disabled as surely as if they'd lost an arm, but that's going to be invisible to the world. I see a certain benefit to that invisibility, but the cost will be help and healing they'll need for years. Sorry for pontificating.
Are you okay? 2021 has been unkind, and this is an intense story.
Are you researching anything you can share with us now?
What do you do to keep yourself sane? The stories are so dark and so heavy, that even reading them is difficult to bear. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to know people firsthand and see what they went through. How do you remove yourself from the stories, so you can live your own life?
Is David able to live with his family again and what is he doing now that this case is over? What a special person he is. Through your writing I feel like I know him.
Given all you endured and learned while working on this story, what are the "teachable moments" you'd like other journalists to understand about what you shared? And, is there anything in your reporting or the efforts you undertook that, if you could do them over, you would do completely different?
If you were to go back to the Congo now, how would you be received? Would your life be in danger or would they recognize you as a hero?
I know I'm very late, but if you see this, I'm curious about part 3. At the end, you write:
"A few days after our detention, we met up with more than a dozen families of the girls (and some of the girls themselves) at a secret location.
While seated in a crowded, dark wooden space, a vaguely distracting pig munching on the grass just outside the open doorway grunted, alerting us to two men in suits approaching. While they were still out of earshot, Jack jumped up to go see what was going on.
The two men, it turned out, were from ANR.
They didn’t know why we were assembled, and they were not at all happy about it.
We all froze."
How did you all get out of or through this? Did you run and hide? Did Jack talk your way out? Did you all lie and say you were asking these families about helpful/harmful NGOs? Or was the cat just basically out of the bag at that point? And did it make interviewing the girls harder - for them or you - after that kind of confrontation? Or were they/you just sort of used to intimidating tactics like this (if one can ever truly become acclimated to fear)?
I’m late to the AMA and I’m trying to read quickly through the comments to see if this has been asked- has writing this substack been therapeutic for you in terms of processing the trauma? Also, have you been able to keep in touch with the families and the girls in Kavumu?
Was the trial legit or was it a kangaroo court?
Not sure if I missed this in the posts, but did you ever learn how the families weren't awakened when the girls were abducted?
Then, do you write thousands of words and cut it down? Or are you more economical when you write. With a story like this, I imagine it’s especially important to trust your editor. Did you? Also, how does fact checking work for a story where the sources are in Africa and not necessarily easily contactable. How does fact checking work for a story like this regardless of location, actually. I imagine the staff need to be mindful to not retraumatise your sources? I also imagine there’s a high level of trust in you, as the journalist? No need to answer all these!
Also, did the people you spoke to in the DRC ever contact you to tell you how disheartened they were at the lack of progress? If so, what was your response?
How did you deal with the waiting? The wheels of justice turned particularly slowly in this case, how did you stay sane and not say anything?