When he spoke in Baltimore, Mukwege said he was training nurses, obstetricians and doctors at Panzi Hospital to treat victims of rape. He said he was tired of witnessing the atrocities that women go through and wants the international community to help end the war.
It is a war that the world seems to have forgotten. Yet between 1998 and 2003, the multinational fight to control Congo and its resources led to the deaths of almost 4 million people and the rape and mutilation of hundreds of thousands of women. More recently, government troops have battled rebel militia in eastern Congo, though a cease-fire was announced in January.
Conflict and upheaval have engulfed Congo since it became independent from Belgium in 1960. While much of Africa has tried to move on after independence, Congo, formerly known as Zaire, has not. The dream of a free, democratic and progressive country has not gotten off the ground, and Congo is mired in poverty, misery and deprivation.
Life expectancy in Congo has shrunk to 49 years, literacy levels are among the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and, with an average per capita income of $120, few of its 66 million people can access such basic necessities as proper health services, food and shelter.
Yet Congo's huge land mass - 905,351 square miles, about the size of the United States east of the Mississippi - has abundant natural resources. It has 80 percent of the world's reserve of coltan - used in the making of cell phones, DVD players and computers - as well as copper, cobalt, gold, diamonds and petroleum.
Foreign forces from neighboring countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have taken advantage of Congo's anarchy to plunder its minerals -leaving a trail of killings, mass rape and torture.
Both Mukwege and Maroy, in Baltimore, called for peace and reconciliation in their country. "The people of Congo want peace. ... They love peace," Mukwege said.
Maroy said an end to the war could create investment and job opportunities. "We want peace, but peace cannot come without bread," he said.
"When one has a job, they are too tired to wage war in the evening," Maroy said. "At the end of the month, he will ask his neighbor out for a drink, instead."
The hospital's patients are urged to forgive those who have harmed them. It is a hard task, but one that Mukwege says he believes can help put the nation back on its feet.
"Unless you have God, it can be hard to forgive the person you know killed your mother and father and raped your sister," he said. "It is not an easy thing."
Andrew Kipkemboi, features editor of The Standard in Nairobi, Kenya, is an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow at The Sun.
