Offering real hope and comfort in Congo

Callum Henderson told Chris Rolfe some of their stories of hope.

When Tuyumbazi arrived at Comfort Congo’s hospital in Rusayu she was desperate.

Armed fighters had violently raped her and her friends and attacked her husband. She had no idea if he was still alive.

Severely wounded and with no money for medicine, friends had treated her injuries with leaves.

Now she was pregnant, wounded and struggling to feed her five children.

Comfort Congo was able to help. Its hospital treated Tuyumbazi free of charge and afterwards supported the family via its ‘Heshima’ (Swahili for dignity) project.

The charity works with rape survivors, and also with ex-child soldiers and displaced children for whom it provides education.

It is just one part of Elim Missions partner Comfort International, set up by its director Callum Henderson after meeting genocide survivors in Rwanda in 1999, then expanding the work into five more central African countries.

“I met women in Congo who’d survived rape, some of whom had babies born out of that and were being forced into prostitution to feed them,” Callum says.

“They had nowhere to go to give birth or be treated for their injuries, so we built a small hospital with a maternity unit that cared for them.”

Today, Callum explains, Comfort Congo is expanding its facilities to care for the escalating numbers of women and child soldiers brutalised by conflict. He told us how the charity is helping them.

Supporting rape survivors

With a current upsurge in violence in DR Congo, Comfort Congo’s support for rape survivors remains vital.

“Many people will have read about the M23 conflict in eastern Congo where armed groups have taken large swathes of land from government forces,” says Callum.

“There are up to 120 groups fighting in the area and all are guilty of rape.

“Our hospital is treating more than 50 survivors a month.”

The women’s stories are shocking.

Some have been multiple-raped multiple times, after being attacked in previous conflicts too. Comfort Congo’s hospital provides medical care, then another project teaches survivors how to generate income.

“One of the big problems for these women is that often, after they’ve been raped, they are rejected by husbands and relatives.

“Also, many don’t have homes to go back to because they’ve been burned down.

“They are left in very vulnerable situations because they have no income or any way of generating it.”

Alongside medical support, therefore, practical support via sponsorship is also provided.

To expand its medical care, Comfort Congo has recently opened a new maternity unit.

Supporting ex-child soldiers

Comfort Congo and its local partners help rescue and rehabilitate former child soldiers.

“Child soldiering in the area is very, very common,” Callum explains.

“Sometimes it comes by the armies seducing street children with the possibility of looting and sometimes it’s through kidnapping.

“Quite often they’re as young as 13, or more commonly 15 or 16.”

Comfort Congo has a network of contacts who help child soldiers escape to a recovery centre, the Village of Hope, a home where they receive education, training and trauma support.

Around 40 are in the programme at any one time and once a child finishes they are given a grant to start their own business or go to university. Many go on to have successful careers, Callum says.

“The director of nursing at our hospital is a former child soldier, so is the girl who leads our ex-soldiers’ choir, and some of the teachers at the Comfort Congo schools are too.

“Others have gone on to become barbers, ironmongers, tailors, drivers, wedding planners, teachers, farmers or pharmacists.”

This year, Comfort Congo is expanding its accommodation for ex-soldiers.

“A large number of girls are being rescued. We have so many in our current building that some are sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

“We’re in the process of building a new home for them.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.