Healing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Photographer Monique Jaques documents the struggles and successes of doctors in a country with a troubled past
Goma, eastern DRC: A nurse checks on a prematurely born baby at Heal Africa, a private hospital financed by international donations.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques))
Bulengo IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camp: Hundreds of thousands of IDPs live at the camp, which hosts health facilities mainly staffed with Doctors Without Borders volunteers.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques) Photographer Monique Jaques visited a number of medical sites after speaking with health care officials in Goma, the eastern capital of DRC. She spent several days)
Goma: A woman waits at Heal Africa's outpatient house to have a fistula surgery. Congolese women with fistulas are often ostracized by their families.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques))
Goma: A mother and her baby wait for the Heal Africa free clinic to open.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques)Such challenges are often exacerbated by the still-constant cloud of conflict in the country. And yet, Jaques says, she was surprised to find a pervasive optimi)
Bulengo Camp: A Doctors Without Borders teacher explains the benefits of proper personal hygiene to a class.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques))
Goma: Women pose for a portrait at Heal Africa's outpatient house for fistula surgeries.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques)Jaques says she hopes her project will infuse some empathy and positivity into the global perspective on the DRC. Viewers can now put faces and stories to the b)
Bulengo Camp: A woman looks into the Doctors Without Borders clinic area.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques))
Goma: A mother and her son, who was born malnourished, rest in Heal Africa shortly before being discharged.
(Image credit: (Monique Jaques) **Check out Monique Jaques' work in war-torn Afghanistan; see more of photography on her website, and follow her on Twitter or Instagram**)
