On Thursday, Katie had the chance to meet and talk with Dr. Denis Mukwege, a French-trained Congolese gynecologist and founder of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, which specializes in treating survivors of horrific sexual violence.
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| Dr. Denis Mukwege |
Mukwege, who last year was awarded the European Union's Sakharov Prize is also regarded as a probable candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, has become the world's leading expert on how to repair the internal physical damage caused by gang rape. At Panzi, he has treated thousands of women who were victims of gang wartime rape since the Second Congo War, often performing as many as 10 surgeries a day. You can read more about Dr. Mukwege's absolutely heroic work HERE.
Dr. Mukwege founded Panzi in 1996 as a response to the devastating war that surrounded his community in the eastern provinces of the DRC. As a direct outcome of the war, maternal mortality was on the rise, and Dr. Mukwege hoped to improve access to cesarean sections and other obstetric interventions.
The Panzi Foundation website tells more of the harrowing story:
"[Dr. Mukwege's] first patient, however, wasn't a mother in labor, but a survivor
of rape whose vagina and rectum had been destroyed with a knife. Dr.
Mukwege was appalled, and as the epidemic of sexual violence flared up
along with the pace of the war, he dedicated significant hospital
resources to treating women with fistula, saying,
'The
perpetrators of these crimes destroy life at its entry point. The women
can no longer have children. Often they get infected with AIDS and will
spread the disease. Their men are humiliated. So the perpetrators
destroy the entire social fabric of their enemies, their communities,
their future generations, without even killing the woman.'"
Katie and Iris visited the hospital Panzi Thursday and are scheduled to return today to meet with Dr. Mukwege's staff to brainstorm ways The Peace Exchange and the Panzi can collaborate.
One way is a new design we're in the process of creating called PANZI PANTS — a line of men's trousers, women's capris, and pajama pants with a portion of the sale of every pair going to Panzi Hospital! Check out the prototype below!
We are just so excited about all that's happening in Congo now and what's on the horizon for the future of The Peace Exchange, our friends, and colleagues in this beautiful, challenging land and we knew you all would share our enthusiasm.
Dr. Mukwege and his colleagues also are doing ingenious work integrating clean energy through his solar panel initiative. You can learn more about that project in the video below.
