#WATWB: The Doctor Who Has Treated 30,000 Rape Victims

There is a doctor in this world who has saved more rape victims than almost anyone else. His name is Dr. Denis Mukwege and he comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was once described by the UN as the “Rape Capital of the World.”

A 2010 study found that four women are raped every five minutes.

That is a terrifying figure of 1,152 women every 24 hours.

Much of the research conducted about sexual violence in the DRC has focused on violence against and rape of women as related to these armed conflict, mostly occurring in the eastern region of the country. The eastern region of the country does have the highest rates of sexual violence, and much of it is perpetrated by armed militia groups.

DRC has been a warzone for a long, long time. The land is rich in raw materials such as rubber, ivory, gold, diamonds, uranium, coltan and timber. Coltan is used in the smartphones. As with almost anything that people value dearly, love quickly turns into obsession, hell quickly breaks loose and establishes a formidable dominion over all concerned. Consequently, the DRC has suffered from war, corruption, death, disease, hunger, mercenaries, child labour, child soldiers and rape. Rape, sexual violence, and the abuse of women is the tragedy within the tragedy there.

It has been reported that the international corporations (mostly the US, Chinese, and European Companies) that benefit from the raw materials produced in DRC are responsible for the armed conflicts there.

The use of rape as weapon of war, rape as a weapon of genocide, has been frequent and widespread in the DRC, especially in the eastern side of the country.

War rape makes a particularly effective weapon because it not only destroys its physical victims, but entire communities as well. War, violence, and instability have ravaged the DRC for decades, and this has led to a culture of violence in war and civilian life that often takes its form in a sexual nature.

The situation of women in eastern DRC is too painful to bear and it can fill the heart with bitterness and hate, with apathy and despair.

To make it even worse, rape victims are often abandoned and marginalised by their communities.

Despite the trauma, despite the everlasting agony, the pain and the despair, of being subjected to rape and sexual violence, even gang rape and genocidal rape, the communities still ostracise and discriminate against the victims. It is cruel.

But hope is not lost.

Dr. Denis Mukwege is the hope that shines for these women.

Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

He is the main street of hope for thousands in eastern Congo. He has stayed in a warzone for 14 years and practised medicine with bare medical resources and witnessed the unbearable enacted on the vaginas and bodies of women day after day. He has invented surgeries to meet the acts of cruelty and has helped repair 30,000 rape victims. He has opened and maintained a hospital providing ongoing care in a place with no roads, no water, no electricity, minimal internet or phone and rampant insecurity.

He has done this and has been the head pastor at his church and a teacher and a fundraiser and a mentor of hundreds of doctors and the head of the Panzi Foundation, which is responsible for opening justice centres and the City of Joy. Everything he does, he does with dignity, kindness and composure. He is beloved. In any village in South Kivu, his arrival is much like the arrival of the pope – throngs of people greet him, thousands of women whose lives he has saved or healed or touched celebrate him. We have few heroes in this world, few who have given their lives and souls for the safety and health of their people.

Few who are driven by such purity of love and service . . . A hero walks among us and his people.

Dr. Mukwege has been attacked in his home and shot by armed militia men, rapists and violent evil men who hate the hope that he gives to the world. His undying love still shines, though, and this year he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian actions in the DRC. He runs Panzi Hospital which cares for victims of sexual violence.

The rest of his story can be found here, here, here, and here.

Dr. Denis Mukwege

This is the 18th celebration of the WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST #WATWB which is carried out every last Friday of the month, and which aims to spread love and positiveness in this vulnerable world. A celebration of heroes who can still restore our faith in humanity, especially in this period when our world seems to be full of endless series of horrible happenings.

Our generous co-hosts for this month are:  Eric Lahti, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Mary Giese, and Roshan Radhakrishnan

To sign up for We Are The World Blogfest, please see the guidelines below.

~~~GUIDELINES~~~

1. Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.
2. All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news  about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.
3. Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.
4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.
5. We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.
6. To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List