比尔·盖茨：“我们能用爱改变仇恨”

德尼·慕克维格医生（Dr. Denis Mukwege）是刚果民主共和国潘奇医院（Panzi Hospital）的创始人。在那里，他和他的员工照顾过超过5万名性暴力幸存者，她们中有在自己家人面前遭到强暴的妇女，还有在这个国家长达二十年的内战期间遭到残忍侵犯的女孩。他的一些病人是未满一岁的婴儿，却已经遭遇了强暴。

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慕克维格医生看过了这么多的残忍和苦难，他如果对这个世界不抱什么希望也是完全可以理解的。但当我去年在纽约遇到他时，我不仅被他的热忱和温柔所感动，而且还被他惊人的乐观精神所震撼。

他告诉我：“鼓舞我一直做下去的是女性们展现出的力量。我体会到女性有多么的坚强，多么能够重建人生及给我们的人性带来希望。她们教会了我很多让世界变得更好的方法，通过不要只为自己考虑，还要考虑到其他人。”

作为一个在扎伊尔东部（现在是刚果民主共和国）长大的男孩，慕克维格医生希望在长大以后能服务别人。他的父亲是一位牧师，当他挨家挨户为社区里的病人祷告的时候，慕克维格会陪在父亲身边。他很仰慕父亲的信仰，但他更想利用医学的力量来帮助治疗这些病人。8岁那年他下定决心，希望自己成为一名医生。

他到法国读医学院，专攻儿科。后来他了解到有多少妇女（特别是在他的祖国）由于分娩而死亡，于是他转到了产科。

回到非洲后，他在刚果东部的布卡武（Bukavu）建立了一家医疗中心提供孕产护理。当时，这一类型的诊所在整个地区还是第一家。然而第一个来就诊的病人却不是孕妇，而是遭遇了强暴和枪击。在接下来的几个月里，又有数十名强暴幸存者出现在他的医院。到了年底，慕克维格医生已经治疗了数百名幸存者，而且数量还在持续增加。他很快了解到，士兵利用强暴来恐吓和占领整个社区，导致这些女性和她们的家人被迫逃离。

“当强暴被用作战争武器时，其影响不仅在于摧毁女性的身体，而且会摧毁她们的精神……摧毁她们的人性。”他说。

起初，慕克维格医生专注于治疗这些女性的身体创伤，但他很快意识到这还不够。大多数女性的精神也遭到重创，无法回家重新开始生活。因此，他设计了一个更加全面的治疗方法，不仅关注身体治疗，而且关注心理支持和社会经济援助。他还启动了一个旨在为性暴力幸存者伸张正义的法律项目。

回顾这些年来他看过的数千名病人，慕克维格医生谈起一个让他印象深刻的病例，那是他二十多年前治疗的第一个病人。她经历了六次手术，而且在最初的时候无法行走。她觉得自己的生活被彻底摧毁了，慕克维格医生回忆道。

然而，她却想要帮助那些与自己有着相同经历的人。她进入学校读书，一生致力于照顾其他性暴力受害者。如今，她是潘奇医院服务时间最长的员工之一。在那里，她帮助患者重新拼凑起破碎的生活。多亏了她和慕克维格医生其他员工的共同努力，数千女性得以重建她们的人生，她们中的一些人甚至成为了护士、医生和律师。

“我们的目标是将她们的痛苦转化为力量。” 慕克维格医生说，“我们能用爱改变仇恨。”

“We can change hate by love.”

Dr. Denis Mukwege is founder of Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he and his staff have cared for more than 50,000 survivors of sexual violence. They include women who have been raped in front of their families and girls brutally assaulted by combatants during the country’s two decades of civil war. Some of his patients are infants—less than one-year-old—who have been raped.

For someone who has witnessed so much cruelty and suffering, Dr. Mukwege could be forgiven for not having a very hopeful view of our world. But when I met him in New York last year, I was struck not only by his warmth and gentleness, but also his incredible optimism.

“What is keeping me going is really the strength of women. I discovered how women are strong, how women can rebuild, and give hope for our humanity,” he told me. “They have taught me a lot about how we can make our world better, by not only thinking about yourself but to think about other people.”

As a boy growing up in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Dr. Mukwege was drawn to a life of service to others. He would accompany his father, a pastor, as he went from home to home to pray for the sick in their community. While he admired his father’s faith, he wanted to use the power of medicine to help heal them. At age 8, he decided he would become a doctor.

He went to medical school in France where he specialized in pediatrics. As he learned about how many women were dying giving childbirth, especially in his own country, he switched to obstetrics.

When he returned to Africa, he opened a center to provide maternity care in the city of Bukavu in eastern Congo. It was the first clinic of its kind in the entire region. But the first patient he saw didn’t come because she was pregnant. She had been raped and shot. In the months that followed, dozens more rape survivors showed up at his hospital. By year’s end, Dr. Mukwege had treated hundreds of survivors and their numbers kept growing. He soon learned that rape was being used by soldiers to intimidate and displace entire communities, causing the women and their families to flee.

“When rape is used as a weapon of war, the impact is not only to destroy women physically, it’s also to destroy their minds... to destroy their humanity,” he said. 

At first, Dr. Mukwege focused on treating the women’s physical wounds. But he soon realized that it was not enough. Most of the women had been so traumatized that they could not go back home and restart their lives. So, he designed a more comprehensive approach to care that goes beyond physical healing and focuses on psychological support and socioeconomic assistance. He also started a legal program to pursue justice for the survivors of sexual violence.

Looking back over the thousands of patients he’s seen over the years, Dr. Mukwege says one case stands out for him. It’s the first patient he treated—more than two decades ago. She underwent six surgeries and, at first, was unable to walk. She thought her life was ruined, he recalled.

But she was inspired to help others who had experienced what she had. She enrolled in school and dedicated her life to taking care of other victims of sexual violence. Today, she is one of the longest serving employees at Panzi Hospital, where she helps patients put the pieces of their lives back together. Thanks to her efforts and the work by the rest of Dr. Mukwege’s staff at Panzi Hospital, thousands of women have been able to rebuild their lives—some even going on to become nurses, doctors, and lawyers.

“The goal is to transform their pain into power,” Dr. Mukwege said. “We can change hate by love.”