Blessed are the fighting peace makers

In the realm of human affairs, amidst the darkness there is always a little light. At least that's the idea that comes to mind when learning of the living, breathing lighthouse Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege. This week Dr. Mukwege received Sweden's prestigious Olof Palmes award, given out each year to a person who embodies the highest ideals of courage and generosity, peace and disarmament. The award recognizes those who, like assassinated Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palmes, exhibit an "unusual luminosity," fighting for human dignity and hope. These are the folk who pick up buckets and blankets instead of weapons.

In 1998, in the city of Bukavu located in the extreme east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mukwege opened a maternity clinic to help ease the immense suffering of pregnant women caught in the war which thrived along the border with Rwanda. At first, Mukwege and his colleagues' primary aim was to help women who regularly had babies in their villages without the slightest medical assistance. The social chaos, poverty and nonexistent medical care meant that an overwhelming number of pregnant women experienced traumatic birthing experiences, many going on to suffer from the tragic and tragically under reported disorder fistula. But soon after the clinic's opening in 1998, the hospital began to focus its attention towards women who had been raped and who had experienced other forms of sexual violence.

It has been known for years that rape has been used in the conflicts plaguing this region of Africa. Saving their bullets, marauding gangs of loosely organized militias have turned to sexual violence to destroy the peoples they aim to exploit. The goal of the rapes is both to demoralize and impregnate the woman so that their children carry the blood of the invaders. These rapists are as often as not carrying the HIV virus. The eastern DRC is rife with such insanity, and the country is referred to in some circles as a "rape mine." It's hard to imagine the ubiquity of this problem, but consider that clinics exist in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa which specialize in "vaginal rebuilding."

Enter Dr. Mukwege. At his Panzi Hospital, thousands of women are treated each year for their traumas, both physical and mental. According to the hospital's website, on average 10 women arrive at the hospital each day suffering from rape trauma, a full 30% of whom need to receive extensive surgeries to save their lives. Doctors at the hospital work 18-hour days to meet the unending needs of these poor and impoverished women. In addition to the medical treatment, Mukwege has gradually brought in psychological and spiritual counseling, and care centers for the shunned children conceived by these rapes. Also in the works is a planned village known locally as the "City of Joy" - for the rape survivors and their children.

Stephen Lewis' monumental 2005 Massey lecture Race Against Time provides an immortal litany of contemporary society's failures and delusions where Africa is concerned. No where is his eloquence more inciting and galling than his discussion of the obscene neglect of women's issues in these crises. And as Canadian companies rush to extract precious metals from the DRC's ground, as though the country were merely "a pile of riches with some black people inconveniently sitting on top of them," the Canadian government says virtually nothing about the violence. This is intolerable. A movement has started up in Vancouver to do something about it.

Congratulations to Dr. Mukwege for being recognized for his vital and inspiring efforts. Fight on Dr. Mukwege! Blessed are the peace makers, especially the fighting peace makers!