How One Woman Makes A Difference Five years ago, Lisa Shannon watched the Oprah show and learned about the savage, forgotten war in Congo, played out in atrocities such as mass rape. Today, she's rebuilding lives there.     She adopted a Congolese woman through Women For Women International. One day she went to the Congo to meet the woman she helped: Generosa.  Generose’s story is numbingly familiar: extremist Hutu militiamen invaded her home one night, killed her husband and prepared to rape her. Then, because she shouted in an attempt to warn her neighbors, they hacked off her leg above the knee with a machete. The rapists put her leg in a kettle of water, boiled it, and told her children to eat it. Her eldest son refused. So they shot him dead. The murder is one of Generose’s last memories before she blacked out, waking up days later in the hospital where she had worked. That’s where Lisa enters the story. After seeing the Oprah show on the Congo war, Lisa began to read more about it, learning that it is the most lethal conflict since World War II. More than five million had already died as of the last peer-reviewed mortality estimate in 2007. Everybody told her that the atrocities continued because nobody cared. Lisa, who is now 34, was appalled and decided to show that she cared. She asked friends to sponsor her for a solo 30-mile fund-raising run for Congolese women. From that evolved "Run For Congo Women", a grassroots run or walk or bike or swim or bake or pray fundraiser for Women for Women International's Congo Program. In only one year, it has blossomed into a global movement with a very simple message: Congolese lives matter. The lives of Congolese women are significant. The lives of Congolese children are precious. They have waited far too long. They are worth our effort. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times wrote a great article about Lisa. This page also includes a great video. Please watch! And be inspired. Because Lisa's story shows us how one woman does make a difference.