Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Mukwege visits Hiroshima Peace Museum, pledges to relay Hibakusha’s message
Oct. 6, 2019
by Masaharu Nakagawa, Staff Writer
Denis Mukwege, 64, 2018 Nobel Peace Laureate and an obstetrician/gynecologist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on October 5. He listened to an A-bomb survivor tell her story of the atomic bombing and expressed his wish that the world would be free of nuclear weapons.
Dr. Mukwege met with Sadae Kasaoka, 87, who experienced the atomic bombing and lost her parents in the blast. Ms. Kasaoka, who lives in Nishi Ward of Hiroshima, told him she dug a hole in the beach near her house and collected pieces of wood to cremate her father. She also told him how loneliness grew in her after the war. Deeply touched by her story, Dr. Mukwege dabbed at his eye several times. He stated that violence would beget only violence and that he would serve as an ambassador in relaying Hibakusha’s message to the world.
During his tour of the museum, he looked at photos showing Hiroshima after it was devastated by the atomic bomb, and wrote in the museum guestbook that being there showed him what total horror looks like, and that nuclear weapons must be abolished. Later, he laid a wreath of flowers at the Cenotaph of the A-bomb Victims in the Peace Memorial Park.
In 1999, Dr. Mukwege established a hospital in eastern Congo, where a prolonged battle between government forces and antigovernment armed forces was causing human rights violations against women to be an increasingly serious problem. To date, he has given mental and livelihood support to more than 50,000 victims of sexual violence. He was awarded Nobel Peace Prize last year.
(Originally published on October 6, 2019)
Denis Mukwege, 64, 2018 Nobel Peace Laureate and an obstetrician/gynecologist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on October 5. He listened to an A-bomb survivor tell her story of the atomic bombing and expressed his wish that the world would be free of nuclear weapons.
Dr. Mukwege met with Sadae Kasaoka, 87, who experienced the atomic bombing and lost her parents in the blast. Ms. Kasaoka, who lives in Nishi Ward of Hiroshima, told him she dug a hole in the beach near her house and collected pieces of wood to cremate her father. She also told him how loneliness grew in her after the war. Deeply touched by her story, Dr. Mukwege dabbed at his eye several times. He stated that violence would beget only violence and that he would serve as an ambassador in relaying Hibakusha’s message to the world.
During his tour of the museum, he looked at photos showing Hiroshima after it was devastated by the atomic bomb, and wrote in the museum guestbook that being there showed him what total horror looks like, and that nuclear weapons must be abolished. Later, he laid a wreath of flowers at the Cenotaph of the A-bomb Victims in the Peace Memorial Park.
In 1999, Dr. Mukwege established a hospital in eastern Congo, where a prolonged battle between government forces and antigovernment armed forces was causing human rights violations against women to be an increasingly serious problem. To date, he has given mental and livelihood support to more than 50,000 victims of sexual violence. He was awarded Nobel Peace Prize last year.
(Originally published on October 6, 2019)
