Congo's victims of war, disease find solace and healing in Anglican church

From ENS-

Thousands of women brutally raped by marauding militiamen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are marred by stigma, frequently abandoned by their families and communities.

At a church guest house in the center of Goma, in the Anglican Diocese of Bukavu, the Rev. Desiré Mukanirwa and his wife Claudaline provide a safe haven for victims of gender-based violence to work through their trauma and carve out a new life. The end goal is the women's integration back into society.

Shouldering immense psychological issues, some of the women become pregnant or find themselves infected with HIV as a result of sexual violation.

"We're helping to heal the wounds of trauma," said Mukanirwa over breakfast one July morning at his Goma home. "We didn't want to shut our eyes. We need action."

Ordained a priest in the Province L'Eglise Anglicane du Congo (Anglican Church of Congo) in 1998, the same year the guest house opened, Mukanirwa told a chilling story about children, one as young as 3, being raped during the Second Congo War (1998-2003).

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_129195_ENG_HTM.htm