When Randolph College’s first male resident director, Paul Clay-Rooks, began telling people on campus about his plan to spend spring break walking from Lynchburg to Washington, D.C., most people looked at him like he was crazy. Trudging along the side of Route 29 just north of Charlottesville, Clay-Rooks, who was not far into his week-long 220-mile journey and could barely hear his cell phone above the sound of traffic, was beginning to think they were right.

With just two days of walking under his belt, Clay-Rooks had been chased by dogs, sprayed by a skunk, and almost run over by countless trucks and cars. He found himself wishing for new feet. But the sun was shining, the day was warm, and Clay-Rooks found the energy to move forward from phone calls from supportive students, friends, and family. And when he felt like stopping, all he had to do was look in his hat at the pictures he’d placed there.

Those pictures, of women who had been raped, beaten, and almost killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an African country wracked by ethnic strife and civil war, were his inspiration. Their lives, and the hardships and trauma they’ve endured, made the physical pains of a 220-mile journey on foot seem trivial.

In October, Clay-Rooks read an article in The New York Times that brought to light the harsh realities of life for thousands of women in this area. Fighting between factions in Goma—the capital of North Kivu Province— has killed, injured, and displaced millions of Congolese over the last decade. A recent International Red Cross report estimates that 40,000 people have died every month since the conflict began in 1998—most of them women and children.

According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country. John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told The New York Times in October that the sexual violence in Congo was the worst in the world.

“The sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity—it’s appalling,” he said in the October 7 story.

For Clay-Rooks, the images and the stories of these women were too much to ignore.

“I’ve never really felt this motivated to get involved in a cause,” Clay-Rooks said. “I just could not believe there were people on our planet that lived like this.”

After researching organizations that are helping the women of Congo, Clay-Rooks learned about the City of Joy, the centerpiece of a global campaign initiated by the women of DRC, V-Day, and UNICEF on behalf of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict.

“Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women in the DRC” is a global campaign to call attention to the wide-scale atrocities committed against women and girls in Eastern DRC and demand an end to these crimes. Funds raised support local groups that provide counseling, medical services, and legal aid on the ground.

The City of Joy is a project of the Panzi Hospital in partnership with V-Day and UNICEF. The City of Joy will be a refuge for healed women, survivors of rape and torture who have been left without family, community, or in many cases, the capacity to have children. City of Joy will offer a safe haven, providing educational and incomegenerating opportunities and will support women in becoming the next leaders of the DRC.

For Clay-Rooks, City of Joy seemed a symbol of hope, so he set out to create a fundraiser that would raise awareness and money at the same time. And his walk to Washington began to take shape.

“Washington, D.C. is a powerful symbol of our ability as a nation, and as citizens, to make choices,” Clay-Rooks said. “Those choices help bring change, both in America and in the world.

The treatment of these women in Africa is something I want to see changed, and this is what I’m doing about it.”

What he didn’t expect was how involved his students have become in the cause. What he envisioned as a small project quickly took on a life of its own, with students organizing “dorm storms” for spare change and helping to spread the word to the campus community. Students who learned about the project also started sharing their own stories of abuse and pain with Clay-Rooks.

“All I wanted to do was walk,” he said. “I had no idea it would grow into this. But the students have really taken the ball and run with it in an admirable way.”

Clay-Rooks used the opportunity as a type of teachable moment for his female and his male students.

“This was an opportunity to talk to them about what it’s like for women and why it’s important for all of us to stand up for our sisters, whether they be on this campus or in Africa,” he said.

“This is about more than gender, it’s about human rights. No one should be treated this way. We need to stand up for each other.”

In the midst of his journey, Clay-Rooks was content to take it one step at a time.

“When I think about how far it is, I do have doubts,” he said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t. But I have no doubt that I’m going to leave all I have out there. That’s my hope and prayer…that my body will carry me through to the finish.”

“I’m not a spectacular kind of guy,” he added. “I’m just a regular guy who wants to see something changed. I just want to inspire people to know what is going on and maybe be motivated to give to help these women. All I want to do is walk.”

Paul Clay-Rooks arrived in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 8, 2008.

Learn more about the global campaign, Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women in the DRC at http://www.vday.org/contents/drcongo

Read about Clay-Rooks’ journey at http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/walking_with_purpose_03_02_08_cdp/2993/

To donate, checks can be made out to V-Day, Power to the Women of DRC Campaign, and sent to Randolph College, c/o Paul Clay-Rooks, Dean of Students Office, 2500 Rivermont Avenue, Lynchburg, VA 24503 or donate straight to the cause (and send Paul Clay-Rooks a note letting him know) at https://secure.ga4.org/01/drcongo .