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In this part of the eastern Nord-Kivu province, the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) are tracking Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), but civilians are right in the firing line.
On June 16, armed men attacked Kasharu, Dafrose's village about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Rutshuru.
"They came into the house. A soldier killed my husband and a friend. I was injured. I was able to escape into the forest by crawling while a soldier wanted to catch my 18-year-old daughter to rape her," Dafrose said.
Neighbours later found Dafrose and took her to the state hospital at Rutshuru, where she will be treated for four months.
A few beds distant, two young soldiers are also in hospital for bullet wounds. One, who was shot in the shoulder and both legs, said that he was a victim of FDLR rebels on June 28 at Kiseguru, 15 kilometres north of Rutshuru.
The hospital is equipped with an emergency unit, an operating theatre, a maternity ward, X-ray facilities, and almost 200 beds, but it has to cater for a region of some 174,000 north of the provincial capital, Goma.
Much of the Virunga National Park, where the FDLR rebels hide out, is part of the region.
Doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists, a gynaecologist and nurses from the non-governmental organisation Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) work in Rutshuru, providing nearly a score of the staff.
It is a matter of policy to admit any patient, whether they are civilians, soldiers or rebels.
"We practise neutrality and without bias," said Philippe Bundya, the nurse in charge of the emergency department. "Uniforms are removed. There was a day when we took care of a soldier and a rebel who had shot each other.
"One week, we had six different (armed) factions in the hospital."
Since October 2008, Bundya has scrupulously kept a note of those "Wounded by Bullets." On October 26, during heavy fighting between the army and Congolese rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), 86 people sustained such wounds.
The CNDP has since rallied to the Kinshasa government, and today the majority of patients are civilians. In June, 55 patients passed through the emergency unit for bullet wounds. The list also details the circumstances, such as "attack," "looting," "ambush" and "raid on the fields."
"The wounds are sometimes devastating and lead to permanent injury, amputations. We also have cases of paralysis. It's really tragic," said John Lawrence, a surgeon who recently arrived from the United States to work with MSF.
"This is a daily carnage we're seeing and it affects many civilians."
On a bed next to Dafrose, 20-year-old Denise is still wearing her navy blue school skirt and her white blouse. On June 20, she was travelling to Rutshuru to sit her high school exam.
But an armed gang attacked the lorry Denise was riding in. One bullet completely broke her left femur. "It hurts," she hissed, and then smiled, to explain that she had still been able to take her exam, on a hospital bed.
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On June 16, armed men attacked Kasharu, Dafrose's village about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Rutshuru.
"They came into the house. A soldier killed my husband and a friend. I was injured. I was able to escape into the forest by crawling while a soldier wanted to catch my 18-year-old daughter to rape her," Dafrose said.
Neighbours later found Dafrose and took her to the state hospital at Rutshuru, where she will be treated for four months.
A few beds distant, two young soldiers are also in hospital for bullet wounds. One, who was shot in the shoulder and both legs, said that he was a victim of FDLR rebels on June 28 at Kiseguru, 15 kilometres north of Rutshuru.
The hospital is equipped with an emergency unit, an operating theatre, a maternity ward, X-ray facilities, and almost 200 beds, but it has to cater for a region of some 174,000 north of the provincial capital, Goma.
Much of the Virunga National Park, where the FDLR rebels hide out, is part of the region.
Doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists, a gynaecologist and nurses from the non-governmental organisation Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) work in Rutshuru, providing nearly a score of the staff.
It is a matter of policy to admit any patient, whether they are civilians, soldiers or rebels.
"We practise neutrality and without bias," said Philippe Bundya, the nurse in charge of the emergency department. "Uniforms are removed. There was a day when we took care of a soldier and a rebel who had shot each other.
"One week, we had six different (armed) factions in the hospital."
Since October 2008, Bundya has scrupulously kept a note of those "Wounded by Bullets." On October 26, during heavy fighting between the army and Congolese rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), 86 people sustained such wounds.
The CNDP has since rallied to the Kinshasa government, and today the majority of patients are civilians. In June, 55 patients passed through the emergency unit for bullet wounds. The list also details the circumstances, such as "attack," "looting," "ambush" and "raid on the fields."
"The wounds are sometimes devastating and lead to permanent injury, amputations. We also have cases of paralysis. It's really tragic," said John Lawrence, a surgeon who recently arrived from the United States to work with MSF.
"This is a daily carnage we're seeing and it affects many civilians."
On a bed next to Dafrose, 20-year-old Denise is still wearing her navy blue school skirt and her white blouse. On June 20, she was travelling to Rutshuru to sit her high school exam.
But an armed gang attacked the lorry Denise was riding in. One bullet completely broke her left femur. "It hurts," she hissed, and then smiled, to explain that she had still been able to take her exam, on a hospital bed.
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