Doctor Who Treats Rape Survivors Is Regarded as a Nobel Peace Prize Contender : Goats and Soda : NPR
This healing process goes behind surgery and therapy. The Panzi healing model is a five-pillar process.
“What I’m doing really is not only to treat women — their body,” says Mukwege, “[but] also to fight for their own right, to bring them to be autonomous, and, of course, to support them psychologically. And all of this is a process of healing so women can regain their dignity.”
Part of this approach comes from Mukwege’s realizations about the nature of the trauma of rape. “When it happens in the life of a woman to be raped, sometime you have an impression that it was ‘just a rape,’ as some people who don’t understand the meaning of rape [say],” explains Mukwege. “But we understand that it’s a very deep trauma and women need to regain confidence in themselves.”
The five pillars of the Panzi model are medical treatment, psychosocial therapy, socioeconomic support and training, community reintegration and legal assistance. “Once you get through your psychosocial and medical healing,” explains Elizabeth Blackney, Panzi Foundation’s media and communications director, “you move on and work with our socioeconomic pillar [to] learn literacy and numeracy and education. [The women] have a safe space to learn vocational skills. And then we of course provide legal aid and assistance to help people get justice.”
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