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A courageous and heart-wrenching book from Nobel Peace Prize laureate, world-renowned doctor and human rights activist Dr Denis Mukwege
About the author
Dr Denis Mukwege was born in the Belgian Congo in 1955. As a child and young man, he was a first-hand witness to racial prejudices, as well as to the economic and moral decay of the Democratic Republic of Congo under dictatorship. Now a world renowned gynecological surgeon, he is recognized as the world's leading expert on treating rape injuries, and his holistic approach to healing has inspired other initiatives around the world. In 2014, he was invited to the White House by Barack Obama. In Europe, he was awarded the prestigious Sakharov human rights prize award, earning him major public recognition for the first time. In 2018, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yazidi human rights activist and sexual violence survivor Nadia Murad.
Summary
"Dr Mukwege, you are a warrior for peace" - Oprah Winfrey
Nobel laureate, world-renowned doctor and human rights activist, Dr Mukwege has dedicated his life to caring for victims of sexual violence.
Over the past two decades living and working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he has stood up to soldiers and warlords, survived massacres and multiple assassination attempts, never swaying from his mission.
In this book Dr Mukwege interweaves his own dramatic story with the experiences of a range of extraordinary characters: the women he has treated - many of whom, after suffering unspeakable brutality, have had the strength to heal and rebuild their lives - as well as the people he has worked with, and survivors of sexual violence whom he has met during his years of advocating for women's rights around the world.
Early on in his career, Dr Mukwege realised what he was dealing with in the DRC was merely the extreme end of a global scourge. Sexual violence is the most common, under-reported and least prosecuted crime in the world. It does not occur in a vacuum. We are all implicated - whether the violence occurs in war-torn countries, or on college campuses in the West.
The Power of Women is a rallying cry to rid our societies of violence against women, and to better learn from their resilience, strength and power. It challenges us to think about our own experiences and how
all of us have a part to play in bringing about change.
For Dr Mukwege, 'emotion without action' is meaningless. Read this book and say 'no' to indifference.
Additional text
When I think of Dr Mukwege and all those survivors, I am just in awe of their courage. Their courage arms and nourishes me - obliges me to live my own life with strength and bravery. And you will feel the same if you read this book. To not be daunted by the challenges that our comfortable lives throw our way. To stand up for those who can't find their voices, or whose voices have been silenced. - OPRAH WINFREY
