Woman: 'They wanted to destroy my body and spirit'

(CNN) -- Eve Ensler can't find the right words to describe what she's seen and heard.
"Obscene. Horrible. Out of control...." The activist tosses out a cluster of angry words, trying to describe what is, in some ways, indescribable.
She talks about a woman being gang-raped by 15 soldiers. Some violated with sticks and knives. Cannibalism. She has returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where thousands of women and girls have been systematically raped during a 10-year war that some say has cost more lives than any other war since World War II.
"It's 'femicide,' " Ensler says, using another word to describe the treatment of Congolese women. "It's the systematic destruction of women. It's an economic war fought on the bodies of women. It's the destruction of the Congolese people and life itself."
Ensler and others are trying to stop the gruesome attacks against women by launching a series of campaigns that pivot on what Ensler says is a debatable premise -- people will care what happens to dark-skinned Africans.
The centerpiece of Ensler's campaign is "The City of Joy," an all-female village in Congo where rape victims can recover from their physical and psychological wounds. Other groups such as UNICEF have mounted similar efforts to empower Congolese women and encourage the world to act.

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