blog post #10

Have you ever heard anything about the war in Rwanda in 1994? The war resulted in a massacre of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in less than 100 days. The events occurred while the international community closed its eyes. Some of the most brutal and breathe taking things happened and most of the government did not even see the worst parts. And still today, ten years after the war took play the government is finally starting to realize that Rwanda is becoming stable. Maybe that has some thanks to Mrs. Rosamond Halsey Carr who gave children she found a place to live, the Imbabazi Orphanage.

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, Rosamond Carr, an American woman who had lived in Rwanda since 1949, converted her farm into a shelter for lost and orphaned children. It is called Imbabazi, which in Kinyarwanda means “a place where you will receive all the love and care a mother would give.”

Rosamond Halsey Carr founded the Imbabazi Orphanage in 1994. The Imbabazi Orphanage is home to over 120 children. Many of these children's families were killed during the 1994 Genocide, which they regularly refer to as "the war." Others died of disease when they fled to the Congo as refugees. The orphanage was originally founded in 1994 on Rosamond Carr's farm, Mugongo, in the hills of Mutura, next to the Congo border. Due to continual outbreaks of violent behavior, the orphanage moved to the petite lake town of Gisenyi. In late 2005, the orphanage moved back to Mugongo, into a new, lasting facility. Translated, Imbabazi means "A Mother's Love," and is one of the smallest numbers of homes where children are being raised without ethnic differences. Ever since it’s founding, the Orphanage was required to move from Mugongo in 1997 due to brutal insurgencies from the Congo. In the nearby lakeside settlement of Gisenyi, the Imbabazi Orphanage resided for 8 years, changing locations 4 times.

Rosamond Carr died on September 29, 2006, at the age of 94. The operations and management of the Imbabazi have been passed on to the Imbabazi Foundation, which is dedicated to the continuation of her work and the safeguarding of her legacy.

The gallery I picked the picture through features photographs taken by 19 children of the Imbabazi Orphanage, beginning when the children were linking the ages of 8 and 17. The photos were taken with 35mm disposable cameras, and, as of 2005, digital cameras. The photographs have been printed to archival, exhibition standards.

Looking back at the picture, the boy looks no older than maybe ten. I can tell that he has been through hard yet rough years in his short lifetime. Maybe the picture is trying to portray that he wants a bigger and better life with joy and excitement. Or still maybe he doesn’t know what he wants and is just trying to figure out wants on the paper or maybe it is his homework. In general, there is an assortment of things that you can infer from just looking at this picture, but yet there are a lot of pieces missing that would clear up or make a precise story. But part of the enjoyment is that you can make it whatever you fancy when you aren't given all the info. What do you get when you look at this picture?


Work Cited
Mahagarara, Emmanuel. “Imbabazi Orphange” 2002. http://imbabazi.org/imbabazi-staff.php
BBC News. Country profile: Rwanda Wednesday, 22 April 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1070265.stm