Life is getting worse in Congo.

Hundreds of children have been separated from their families in the fighting. The reporter noted one 3-year-old wandering around a refugee camp. The soldiers have seen these most vulnerable as another prime target, brutalizing even the helpless. Again, rape is the chosen weapon.

"UNICEF estimates that hundreds of children have been separated from their families since fighting flared up in August, and that overall more than 1,600 children in the province are seeking their parents."

In addition, the poor are losing their meager possessions. One woman saved five years for a dress to wear on Sundays and to weddings. Another man owned three $90 saws (two of them were a lifetime of savings legacy handed down to him from his father who earned $1.50 a day working security at a coffee plantation) that he was able to leverage into a business that earned him $50 a month--enough to care for his mother and employ four others supplying wood to a local market. His livelihood and that of his mother and employees is now gone.

Rebels have set up roadblocks where they strip the refugees of anything they have and demand exorbitant amounts of money to pass.

"The impact of the predation is difficult to calculate. Person by person, though, it has been catastrophic economically and, in a way, morally, as Congolese have watched their painstakingly earned savings and possessions carried off by drunk soldiers with guns."

Still, you want the news in this country and find silence. You listen to the leaders in this country and you hear silence. Are you praying?