Actually, Goma’s slammers do both. Their city has been surrounded by warring armed groups for over 20 years. Rebels, who generally fund themselves by smuggling gold, coltan and wood, often kidnap people on nearby roads. In February men wielding Kalashnikovs intercepted two UN cars less than 30 miles from Goma; they hauled out the Italian ambassador, his bodyguard and driver and shot them. People in the region are slaughtered with machetes and guns every month. Militiamen terrorise women by raping them.
实际上，戈马的诗喃者两者兼备。这座城市已经被交战的武装团体包围了20多年。主要通过走私黄金、钶钽铁矿石和木材为自己提供资金的叛军经常在附近的公路上绑架民众。今年2月，手持卡拉什尼科夫冲锋枪的男子在距戈马不到30英里的地方拦截了两辆联合国汽车；他们将意大利大使、保镖和司机从车里拖了出来并开枪杀害。戈马每个月都有人被砍死和枪杀。民兵通过强奸妇女来恐吓她们。
Ms Zaburi and four other female slammers help women who have been raped or beaten in weekly “slam-o-therapy” workshops. The participants—some attacked by rebels, others by their husbands—learn to write about their experiences. One of their number, Deborah, slams about what the group means to her: “I love you, you respect me, we give each other advice, we are working together to build a community,” she intones in Swahili. When Deborah was 15, her parents forced her to marry a man who came home drunk and beat her most nights. She gave birth to a child who died in infancy and eventually ran away from the abuse. Slam helps her relax, she says. “It is a way to have fun, to destress, it helps me to put the pain behind me.”
扎布里女士和其他四名女性诗喃者会在每周的“诗喃疗愈”研讨会上帮助遭遇强奸或殴打的女性。部分参与者曾遭到叛军袭击，而其他参与者曾被她们的丈夫伤害，她们学会了书写自己的经历。其中一个叫黛博拉的诗喃者用斯瓦希里语吟诵了这个群体对她来说意味着什么：“我爱你们，你们尊重我，我们互相建议，我们共同致力于建立一个诗喃者的社区。”黛博拉的父母在她15岁的时候强迫她嫁人，她的丈夫常常在喝得酩酊大醉后回家，并殴打她。她生下的孩子在婴儿期就死了，但她最终还是逃离了家暴。她说，诗喃帮助她放松。“诗喃是一种享受乐趣，消除压力的方式，它帮助我脱离苦海。”
The men who established the slam scene in Goma are also among the city’s most prominent activists. Mr Kamuntu, for example, wrote some of his best slam in prison, where he was locked up for two months after protesting against the refusal of Joseph Kabila, a former president, to leave power. But slam in Congo is about more than airing political anger. Goma’s young slammers are exuberant. “People tell tales about what has happened in their neighbourhoods, recount love stories, make jokes,” Mr Kamuntu says. “Even if there is no electricity in a street, there is still life in that street and a joy at being alive that must be expressed.”
在戈马建立诗喃圈子的人也是该市的一些最著名的活动家。例如，因抗议前总统约瑟夫·卡比拉的拒绝下台而被关押了两个月的卡蒙图在狱中写下了一些最精彩的诗喃作品。但是，在刚果的诗喃不仅仅是宣泄政治愤怒。戈马年轻的诗喃者们精力充沛。卡蒙图表示：“人们会讲述他们的邻里故事，会讲述爱情故事，还会开玩笑。”“即使一条街上没有电，但那条街上仍然有生命，仍然有必须表达的活着的快乐。”
