I’m heartbroken by the violence that erupted in the vibrant city where I treated patients only last year.
Plumes of smoke rise daily from the crater of Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. For the residents of Goma, the city lying in its shadow, the smoke is a strong reminder of the precarious balance between peace and chaos. A reminder of how quickly their lives can change.
What we saw was harrowing. Women presented to us with ulcerating metastatic breast cancers; 40-year-old men with back pain due to tuberculosis of the spine hobbled into the clinic on wooden canes; another woman I saw presented with a football-sized tumour growing from the palm of her hand. Close living conditions in the refugee camps also led to an epidemic of sexual violence, requiring both medical and psychological support for the victims.
Though most of the fighting in Goma has subsided, UN peacekeepers estimate nearly 3000 people are dead. M23 declared a unilateral ceasefire would start on Tuesday, but almost immediately broke it by seizing another city.I’m devastated that all the work put in by our organisation has now either been halted or abandoned due to the conflict.
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