Treating the emotional scars of war

Colette Kitoga Habanawema, nicknamed “the mother of orphans and widows”, never imagined the turn her career as a physician would take. When she returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1994 after living 20 years in Italy, war broke out, changing her life. Ms. Habanawema took in newborns at her small doctor’s of?  ce, set up a network to place orphans with families and founded the Centre Mater Misericordiae for child war victims in 1995 in Bukavu, where she was born. At the heart of tragedy, she takes terrible risks by also protecting child-soldiers ?  eeing the war. The 68-year-old doctor, who has witnessed unspeakable horrors, provides support for rape victims and survivors of barbarism.