Quadruplets, Butaro Hospital - Partners in Health, Burera District, Rwanda.

From five to nine children. Butaro Rwanda, quadrouplets,

During the month of April 2009, at the Butaro Hospital in rural northern Rwanda,  an ultrasound of a 20th week pregnant woman showed she was carrying twins.  Three months later she returned to the hospital to be seen for a persistent cough.   The timing couldn’t have been better  as she went into full labor before leaving the facility.  Her large abdomen warranted a new ultrasound which revealed the presence of a third child.  All three were delivered successfully, followed by the unexpected delivery of a fourth.

The chances of naturally giving birth to quadruplets in this region is less than 1 in 800,000.  Even rarer, these babies shared a single placenta, the odds of which are around 1 in 10 million.

On December 1st I was invited to visit the four and a half month old quadruplet girls.  Beautiful, happy, and healthy, with two proud parents and 5 older siblings, the four babies are a joyous sight.  The former family of 7 has adjusted to becoming a household of 11, and the government of Rwanda has stepped up to provide extra services including two new cows to provide milk for family.

The summit Mount Muhavura volcano is 4127 meters.

The Rwandan village of  Nyamucucu is too small to be found on most maps. An extinct volcano,  Mount Muhavura, dominates the western sky.  The eastern border with Uganda is unmarked, somewhere between Nyamucucu’s high ridge top and the lush valley below

Uganda is seen from behind the Nyamucucu village school.

At 9:30 am a team of doctors and clinicians from the Butaro Hospital, run by the Boston based Partners in Health, sets out in three vehicles for a one hour drive to Nyamucucu.  A mobile health clinic will be set up at the local primary school.  The road there, in places no more than a dirt path, winds slowly down a hillside, across a valley floor, and up a steep terraced ridge.

Rain falls lightly when the journey begins, turning parts of the red clay road bed ice slick.  One of the Land Cruisers slides into a ditch.  An audience of 30 rural children gather to watch while we push it free.

The Butaro Hospital ambulance is one of four vehicles used to ferry a team of doctors and clinicians from Partners in Health to the village of Nyamucucu.

Nyamucucu appears to be no more than a small collection of huts, along a short stretch of road at the top of brilliant green ridge.  But looks can be deceiving in rural areas.  Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa, and hundreds of people are waiting for treatment when the vehicles arrive.  The hospital team has a short meeting and assigns three classrooms for the doctors, and another for use as a pharmacy.

A doctor speaks with Nyamucucu villagers, directing them to the proper examination rooms at the school house clinic.

Lines form quickly as Nyamucucu residents wait to see a doctor.

Work begins in the absence of electricity and running water. Villagers are quickly triaged and form lines in front of the three patient rooms.  A young boy with a high fever is sent by ambulance back to the Butaro hospital for treatment.

Waiting their turn to see one of the Partners in Health doctors.

Children play outside during the wait.

Doctor greeting patient in school house examination room.

Checking blood pressure of local resident.

In the next seven hours over 200 patients will be seen.  The mix is dominated by elderly women with age related symptoms and non specific aches and pains.  Older men are scarce in this part of Rwanda, a result of the 1994 genocide and the preceding war that further ravaged this area of the country.

Most of the patients are treated on site.  Some are referred to the hospital clinic for cardio-vascular and other problems.  One woman’s resting heart rate is 130 beats per minute.  Others have high blood pressure and will need medication and follow up visits.

Cardiologist listens to patient's heart.

Medical worries are difficult no matter what country you live in.

Two of the children seen have distended bellies.  To an untrained eye the cases look similar to malnutrition, but the diagnosis is worms.  One pill and 4-6 months time will return them to good health. A man with vision problems is brought to a window where the light is better for examination.  His hearing is also weak and a loud voice is necessary to communicate.  Two  mental health patients are examined – one believes he’s the president of Rwanda,  the other claims she’s allergic to both hot and cold water.

Light from a window is needed to preform an eye examination.

The Pharmacy.

Counting out and dispensing medicine at Nyamucucu mobile clinic school house pharmacy.

By early evening the team is tired and hungry. Food arrives with one of the two vehicles sent to pick up the group.  The ride back is cramped but enthusiasm is high for the accomplishments of the day.  The mobile health clinic preformed well given the constraints of limited resources. One of the doctors revels in what he describes as an act of solidarity with the local population.

These men are among the last patients seen.

When the final patient is checked out, the clinic is packed up for the trip home.

While photographing cement pouring for construction at Kigali Parents Secondary School, the mantra “do what you can, with what you have, when you have it,” kept playing in my mind.  KPSS is being built with help from the Oregon based Itafari Foundation.  Sixth graders from Kigali Parents Primary School produced the 12 highest test scores in national exams this year.    This story is best told through pictures.

Mixing dry ingredients to make cement for the 2nd floor of Kigali Parents Secondary School.

Walking up the ramp requires strength and balance.

Once up, workers walk on a planks to avoid damaging the reinforcing metal lattice set into the floor.

The same plank paths are used for coming and going.

At the final off load site, Buckets come down and are dumped into place.

Time to empty their load, go back down the ramp, and do it all over again.

In the final phase, the cement is smoothed out and left to dry.

The building of Kigali Parents Secondary School is being helped by the Portland, Oregon, non-profit Itafari Foundation.  If you’re interested in helping this effort please visit,  http://www.itafari.org/

The art of the cement pour at Kigali Parents Secondary School, Rwanda.

Shelter and food are provided for orphans by the non-profit, OVC-Rwanda, in Kigali.

There are an estimated 860,000 orphans in Rwanda, as last reported by unicef.  The 1994 genocide, AIDS, and hard living conditions account for much of that number.   Forty-five of them, from the streets of Kigali, Rwanda, are fortunate to receive even minimal care, in an orphanage run by the nonprofit,  Orphans and Vulnerable Children of Rwanda,   www.ovc-rwanda.org/en

In the shadow of the downtown business center, overlooking a slum area of Kigali,  the orphanage is in a desperate state of disrepair.  It’s founders and community members are unable to raise appropriate funds to update the structure beyond four walls and a roof, supply needed school books, and at times provide enough food for the children.

Small rooms with mattresses that are no more than decaying pieces of old foam with ragged sheets, are the sleeping provisions for 5-6 children each.  The girls live on one side of the faded blue structure, and the boys on the other.

Too few rooms mean some must sleep in hallways.   The dining area has no table or chairs.  The only furniture is a set of bunks in two of the girls’ rooms.

Daytime provides the only chance for privacy.  When most of the kids are outside playing or doing choirs,  an empty bed can be enjoyed for reading or a nap.

Almost all of rural Rwanda, and many of the households in the capital city of Kigali, have no running water or electricity.  At the orphanage, water must be carried up a steep hill from the valley floor, usually  in 5, or 20 liter jerry cans.   With one liter of water weighing one kilogram, or approximately 2.2 pounds,  it makes for a heavy haul.  No running water also means no plumbing.  The toilet is a small out house in the back of the facility.

If there’s any light at the night,  it comes from a kerosene lamp – a primary source of indoor pollution and respiratory problems in developing countries. Money for lantern fuel, however, is low on the priority list so the orphanage is dark most of the time.

Forty-four other children served by OVC-Rwanda, have been placed in foster homes, yet they  must come to the orphanage for food.  Their hosts cannot afford to feed them.

This is a case of the poor taking care of the poor;  a dedicated community of people with precious little who are determined to keep kids off the streets.

The orphanage and its children are a testament to the resilience, and strength of the human spirit.  In a country still recovering from the worst genocide since the holocaust, where money is scarce and resources limited, they are grateful to have a strong  honest government to ensure conditions of safety.  Rwanda has a motto that she lives up to:  “Investment yes.  Corruption no.”

OVC -Rwanda was founded in 1995  on the initiative of Emmanuel Uwamahoro, himself an orphan who was raised by nuns from the age of 9.  With his co-founder, help from the surrounding community, and a small amount of funds from other nonprofit foundations,  Emmanuel is doing all he can to keep children off the street, provide them with food, shelter, and access to health care and education, and give them the best chance possible to be able to provide for themselves, now and into the future.

Emmanuel’s top priority is searching for emergency assistance to rehabilitate the orphanage.  He dreams of a larger more functional facility on a bigger site, and envisions strong economic, social, and cultural development for all the orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda.  His goals are to reintegrate the children into everyday family life, and to know they will have the chance to live into old age with peace and dignity.

If you have any means to help, or know someone who can, please contact me at:  info@adambacher.com.   You can also contact OVC-Rwanda directly at:  Orphans and  Vulnerable Children of Rwanda,   P.O.Box  4575  Kigali,  Rwanda.  Cell: 25078494148,   Email: ovcs.rwanda@If you have any means to help, or know someone who can, please contact me at:  info@adambacher.com.   You can also contact OVC-Rwanda directly at:  Orphans and  Vulnerable Children of Rwanda,   P.O.Box  4575  Kigali,  Rwanda.  Cell: 25078494148,   Email: ovcs.rwanda@yahoo.fr   Website :www.ovc-rwanda.org/en

William Clinton - Rwanda, holding signed photo from President William Clinton - United States.

Last January while photographing a micro finance story for Rwanda’s Coojad cooperative bank,  I met a bartender named William Clinton.  Leaving with his email in hand, I planned to send him a photo of President William Clinton, when I returned to the United States.  If only I hadn’t lost the email.  Then I had an idea.

In October I made a 5×7 print with photos of the two Clintons side by side, and sent it to a good friend who works for the Clinton  Foundation, in New York city.  He passed it on to President Clinton.   How wonderful it would be, I wrote to the president, if I could bring to the Rwandan William Clinton a signed photograph from the U.S. William Clinton.  It never hurts to ask.  I believe my wife thought I was crazy, until the signed photo came in the mail shortly before I left for Rwanda.

Today I completed my mission.  Thank you President Clinton!  You scored big with your Rwandan namesake.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Rusaro and her new soccer ball, Kigali, Rwanda.

Three and a half year old Rusaro, in Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali, is the recipient of the first of 65 soccer balls donated from Portland, Oregon’s, Running Cheetahs soccer team, the Lauralhurst soccer league, friends and family.  Thanks to all of you from Portland and beyond for your generosity.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

With an award from the World Bank’s Lighting Africa competition, Nuru spent the past year working directly with rural Rwandans, co-creating the first commercially viable pedal generator to bring renewable lighting to areas currently dependent on kerosene lamps.  The concept is an innovative, efficient, healthy, and environmentally friendly way to bring market based solutions to the one third of the global population living in poverty – a staggering 2 billion people.

Nuru power cycle charges 4 lights after 20 minutes of pedaling.

Kerosene lamps are the primary source of light when night falls in the underdeveloped regions of the world.  Light generated from kerosene is expensive, unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly, and dangerous.  The World Bank estimates that “women and children breathing kerosene fumes inhale the equivalent smoke from two packs of cigarettes per day.”  Scared hands and faces from burn accidents are testament to the dangers.  With Nuru’s pedal power lighting system, the dangers of kerosene are eliminated and the cost per unit of light is 20 time less.

Wanting to get it right, Nuru worked directly with the experts on poverty, the poor themselves. Over the last year they gave their pedal powered technology to the people who will be using it, solicited feedback, made design changes, and did over again for four rounds of testing and improvement. The finished units are now being brought to market.

A control panel on the front of the Nuru power cycle indicates when charging is complete.

The business model is multifaceted.  With help from microfinance, an economically disenfranchised villager is given a loan to buy 200 light pods (Portable On Demand light) and one power cycle (pedal generator).  He or she is now an entrepreneur.  The pods are sold individually to people of their village and nearby areas. Cost benefit savings over kerosene make for easy customers. Each sale creates a satisfied consumer and a new client for the entrepreneur. One charge from 20 minutes of pedaling last 30-40 hours depending on whether the light is used on the low or high setting (one or two led’s).  When the power is depleted, owners pay a small fee for recharging.

Formerly unemployed, Innocent is now an entrepreneur bringing sustainable light to his fellow villagers in Rwanda.

Watch for part II of this story –  photographs and interviews with people using their pod lights.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Arthritis affects people worldwide - elders in Rwanda as well as the U.S.

Arthritis affects people worldwide – elders in Rwanda as well as the U.S.

For the next three weeks I’ll be staying with my good friend Emmanuel, in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.  The oldest in his family, Emmanuel willingly cares for his younger brothers and sisters, some nieces and nephews, and two adopted children.  His friends joke that his home is really a youth hostel.

This week Emmanuel’s mother is in from Rwanda’s eastern province to receive treatment for her  arthritis.  Unlike the United States, Rwanda has universal health care coverage. Costs are minimal, but access to medicine is limited.  Unlike Rwanda, the United States has an abundance  of medicine, to treat aliments real and conjured (seen and pharmaceutical commercials recently?).  However, 25% of our population isn’t covered by health insurance and costs are skyrocketing.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Maria suffers from autism. ASSIST-Rwanda administers a programs for her and other vulnerable youth.

Autism is on the rise globally, in Rwanda or the United States, vaccinated or not vaccinated.  Unable to make eye contact,  7 year old Maria dances through a room of 35 orphans, their schooling sponsored by members of a small community in Germany.  Each time she passes, a hand soft in youth reaches for mine. She runs it to my elbow and back, then settles for a few moments. A spit second eye to eye fills her comfort zone.  Touch is her preferred method of communication.

Copyright 2009 Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

View from Butaro Hospital, Burera District, Rwanda

Two types of medicine are being practiced at the Butaro hospital in northern Rwanda; one treats diseases of infection, the other treats the disease of poverty. Using local building techniques, materials, and labor, construction of a new hospital building is now underway  in northern Rwanda’s Burera district, near the border with Uganda. Lush terraced hillsides, subsistence farming, and Lake Burera dominate the one hour drive from the nearest paved road – less than 15 kilometers as the crow flies.

Lake Burera, Rwanda

In a joint venture with the William J. Clinton Foundation, and Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, the Boston based Partners In Health (PIH) is overseeing the building of an innovative hospital designed to control infectious diseases like tuberculosis, as well as nosocomial (hospital-induced) infections common to hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Workers digging foundation, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

With a local contractor, and a construction crew hired from the local population, PIH is implementing their proven model of community-based care to serve a population of over 500,000, in a region reaching from northern Rwanda to southern Uganda. PIH fundamentally believes health care is a right not a privilege. Community-based care is based on five fundamental principles[i]: 1. Access to primary health care, 2. Free health care and education for the poor, 3. Community partnerships, 4. Addressing basic social and economic needs, and 5. Serving the poor through the public sector.

Ambulance at Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

An existing facility, in the process of being updated, treats the three most common ailments – upper respiratory infections, malaria, and gastro-intestinal problems. It also includes maternity, pediatric, HIV/Aids, and other treatment wards.  Equipped for x-rays, minor surgeries, C-sections, and physical therapy, the present hospital can handle most medical issues. Conditions requiring major surgery are transferred to larger facilities.

Butaro Hospital ward, Rwanda

Butaro’s  new hospital building was conceived by a team of architects from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, working in conjunction with PIH.  Lead architect, Michael Murphy, began preparations after being contacted in 2007 by Paul Farmer, the founder of PIH. Farmer challenged Murphy to generate an architectural solution to the medical problem of infection transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. Of particular concern, halting the spread of recalcitrant airborne infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, where a patient can come into the hospital for an easily treatable condition like a broken bone or the stomach flu, and leave with TB.

Michael Murphy - Architect, Butaro Hospital

  “The problem of airborne disease in developing countries is so huge and complex that a multidisciplinary approach is the only way to address these issues,” states Murphy. “We believe that architecture can save lives through effective healthcare design.”[ii] The Butaro project inspired Murphy, along with ten other students, to  form the non-profit MASS (Model of Architecture Serving Society), in January 2008.

Transfering supplies between buildings, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

Rather than depending on high cost and high energy intake methods like the negative pressure air evacuation systems more common in wealthier countries, the new Butaro hospital relies on simple design features to reduce the spread of airborne pathogens. Open wards with natural ventilation allow air exchange rates on par with western hospitals. A hill top cite provides the advantage of increased wind and air flow, and high permanently open windows amplify ventilation. Interior hallways, where close patient to patient contact is frequent, are eliminated. Exterior walkways and courtyards with wards built around the perimeter also reduce the risk of disease transmission.

Foundation construction, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

Eloquent solutions, appropriate technology, and determination are all in play, but the design and it’s structural endpoint are only the beginning. Construction techniques and applications are the unexpected story. In a country where 60% of the population earns less than one U.S. dollar per day (88% earns less than two dollars per day),[iii] the Butaro hospital project directly treats the disease of poverty. All labor comes from the local population where subsistence is a way of life, and a full stomach is never guaranteed. Typical of Rwanda, people living in this area have no electricity and no running water.

Woman hauling dirt from construction site, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

The construction crew works in one week shifts, then a new group comes on. Work groups cycle once every six weeks, spreading employment to six times as many people than if only one crew were hired. Local building techniques are the rule; earth moving machinery is all but absent. Foundations are dug with pick and shovel. Dirt is removed on foot, in large bowls atop a woman’s head.

From cement to cinder blocks - mixing, molding, and drying, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda

Cement is mixed by hand, and cinder blocks molded and dried on location. Furniture and other finished wood products are constructed on site. Anything that can be dug, mixed, cut, formed or fashioned into shape is done by the local people with local means.

Woodworking at Butaro Hospital site, Rwanda

Meals are fed to all, clean drinking water is readily available, and health care and education are provided. Construction of the new hospital is as much about development and poverty reduction as it is about improved health care. Work is one of the treatments.

 “It’s a clear example of how you could rehabilitate an entire community by investing in one infrastructure.” Michael Murphy.

Worker at Butaro Hospital construction site, Rwanda

All photography copyright Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

TIG prisoner giving thumbs up.

The program allows eligible prisoners to complete their sentences through participation in activities such as clearing ground, road building, construction of houses for genocide survivors, clay mining, and brick and tile manufacturing. Participants are referred to as tigistes and they engage in hard physical labor: breaking and hauling rocks, digging with picks and shovels, and manually moving earth by hand, sack, or wheel barrel. Many of the workers do not wear shoes.

This new road is being excavated and leveled by TIG members. It leads to an area where other participants are constructing homes for genocide survivors - Rwanda

The Rwandan government hails TIG as the best way to blend justice and reconciliation, helping to ease confessed killers back into Rwandan society. Reintegration, skill training, re-education and sensitization are part of the TIG design.

A million people were killed in the genocide; millions more were implicated, both directly and indirectly, as participants in the killings. Supporters of the program reason that all who participated cannot possibly be imprisoned, and TIG administers appropriate justice while serving to reconcile the Rwandan population. However, the program is not without its controversy. Some victims’ groups believe that consequences for the guilty are too lenient for the crimes they committed.

A day spent touring the TIG work sites was not about testimonials from the prisoners, evaluating philosophical approaches, punitive effectiveness, or rehabilitative results. It was centered around operational functions and the people carrying them out.

Row by row new homes are being built for genocide survivors by TIG prisoners - Rwanda

I toured three primary sites in eight hours, as well as a camp compound where large orange tents provide living quarters for the tigistes. By the end of the day I had seen every aspect of housing construction for genocide survivors. The tigistes mined raw materials – from dirt for bricks, to clay for molding roofing tiles, to earthen materials used to make the hard concrete pads that serve as foundations for the houses, and the smooth adobe that covers and seals the brick walls. Each process began with digging earth.

Homes are built from the ground up, starting with excavation – not of a basement, but a thirty meter rectangularpit – the toilet.

After clearing the land, TIG prisoners in Rwanda dig the toilet. The first step in construction of a new home.

Bricks that make the core walls of houses also begin with excavation. Red dirt, the hallmark of African soil, is dug from a hillside, sifted, sorted and carried off.

Raw materials for brick-making are excavated from hillside soil.

TIG members sifting dirt for making bricks

Sifted dirt is ready for brick-making.

A hundred meters uphill from the quarry are two hydraulic compressors designed for molding bricks. Each machine, the size of a refrigerator, is run by a small kerosene generator. Other than the car we drove in on, they are the only machinery on site

Forty minutes by car, nestled at the head of an open valley with terraced hills rising from three sides, is a tile and brick factory. Clay mined from a river bed is used for construction of rounded roof tiles and other types of brick and building materials.

TIG tile and brick factory

On the right, a large pile of mined clay awaits processing. On the left, a TIG member works the clay with his feet.

Again, the first step begins with excavation. Clay is carried and piled inside open buildings where it’s processed for tile and brick molding. Processing consists of stomping and beating the clay with Neanderthal sized wooden clubs.

TIG workers beat the clay until it reaches the proper consistancy for tile and brick making.

When ready, it’s taken to other areas for tile and brick fashioning.

Roofing tiles are shaped around a wooden form, then left for drying. Later they will be baked in an oven for hardening.

Later that afternoon we ate lunch with administrators at a camp where large orange tents had been erected for shelter and sleeping quarters while these tigistes finish their time in the program.

In the TIG program, members work 3 days on then 3 days off. A few are allowed to commute from their homes. Most live in the field where projects are under way. Each tent holds between fifty and eighty people.

Lunch is eaten outside and inside the tents.

All photography copyright 2009 Adam Bacher. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

A baby billy goat.

All photographs copyright Adam Bacher.  Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

Fifteen years ago the country was the scene of one of the humaniy’s worst genocides . One million people were killed in the course of one-hundred days.

Today Rwanda is an example of peace. The people have chosen not to allow themselves to become captive to decades of retributional killings. Distinctions between ethnic groups, political extremism, wide spread corruption, media manipulation, and other factors that led to the genocide have all but disappeared. Rwandan’s are working hard to reconcile their differences, and grow themselves out of poverty – toward peace and prosperity. They are an example to the world of what is possible.

Innovative means are empowering the people to empower themselves. During the month of January I’ll be in Rwanda reporting about and photographing the people and programs of the country.

ASSIST-Rwanda is a locally based non-profit, youth advocacy, organization. They work with orphans and at risk youth on education, skill development, micro-business projects, employment, and HIV/Aids prevention. One of their programs is setting up business cooperatives with orphans and child headed households across the country. I visited some of these cooperatives in the northern area of the country, out of the city of Ruhenguri.

Youth cooperative meeting in Ruhengeri, Rwanda

The day I arrived, members of six cooperatives were meeting to finalize charters, elect officers and formalize their businesses. A year ago these teenagers lived in abject poverty; clothes worn and tattered, not  attending school,  unemployed, hopeless. When asked whether one year ago they could have imagined where they would be today, the answer was a resounding “no.” Now they are business owners. They’ve been trained in sewing, carpentry, and welding.

Youth sewing cooperative

The cooperatives ASSIST-Rwanda has helped form are lifting them out of poverty. Today they have vocational skills and employment. Many of them are going to school. All of them have hope for the future.

Member of youth carpentry coperative

Member of youth welding cooperative

All photography copyright Adam Bacher. Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

In September 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty. They set out a time-bound series of targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), with a deadline of 2015 for meeting them.

These goals are quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty, hunger, disease, inadequate shelter, while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They are basic human rights of all people on our planet to adequate health, education, shelter, and security.

In 2002, the United Nations Secretary –General, commissioned the Millennium Project, and its 8 basic goals:

1. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other disease

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a global partnership for development

There are twelve Millennium Villages in sub-Saharan Africa. In Rwanda, a Millennium Village cluster is located in Mayange, less than an hour’s drive from the capital of Kigali. Shortly before returning home, I spent a day touring a portion of this village. Located in Rwanda’s Bugesera District, the area is one of the most underdeveloped and arid parts of the country. With limited water access, one solution was to build cisterns between houses to catch water run off. The girl seen below is leaning against one of them. Gutters from homes on either side divert rain water into the cistern. At the bottom is a spigot for filling water cans.

Fertilizers, drought resistant crops, and grafting techniques are utilized to help improve farm yields. The farmer below took us to his fields to show what crops he’s growing.

Cassava, grown for its starch filled roots, is highly adaptable to these soils.

Grafting fruit-bearing trees to native root stocks is also successful in this area. Avocado, mango, pomegranate, and orange grafts will become productive in as little as two years. Shown below is a newly grafted plant. The graft is the cut line on the midpoint of the stem, enlarged in the box on the lower right.

The school that serves this area has 700 students and 9 teachers.

Unique among the millennium villages, one of Mayange’s goals is to help heal the wounds of genocide. In one area we visited, homes were built by survivors and perpetrators working together. Today they live side by side in peace. The woman below lost her entire family.

This man participated in the killing of seven people in the area. After serving ten years in jail, he is now welcomed in the community.

The newly built health clinic and maternity ward serves the needs of the community.

Other members of the village…

Copyright Adam Bacher. Absolutely no use without prior authorization. All rights reserved.

The Bugesera district was one of the areas most devastated by the genocide. From a population of 62,000, only 2,000 survived. The photo below shows the front of the Nyamata church. People congregated there from all around. To protect themselves they padlocked the iron gate, hoping to keep the Hutu militias and their Interahamwe leaders at bay. Thwarted on the first attempt to take the church, the militias came back with grenades. The hole in the gate shows where one grenade was used to gain entry. The banner over the door reads:

If you knew me, and you really knew yourself, you would not have killed me.

Inside, militias found thousands. The sanctuary below would have been overflowing beyond maximum capacity. Every space, concealed or open, was filled with frightened people hoping to escape death. People were inside closets and cupboards, under the alter and under the floor boards, any place large enough to fit. The militias came in shooting. Daylight can be seen through the bullet holes in the ceiling.

Most would have preferred bullets to machetes. Nearly all were killed by machetes.

The blood stains on the walls – shoulder height throughout the building – are mostly faded. The fabric covering the alter still bares the staines.

Everyone in Rwanda had to carry an ID card like this one. Your photo goes on the left side, at the top center. Just below, in bold, is a spot to check your ethnicity. The edges are darkened with blood, and the hole is from a bullet.

The basement of the church now holds one of many mass graves. Eight others are accessible behind the church. This grave is typical. The entrance begins with twelve steep steps down.

Short narrow hallways go off to the left and right, a shoulder and a half wide. On each side, racks of skulls and bones cover floor to ceiling. Some of the graves have coffins, each filled with many sets of bones.

After release from prison, one of the genocide perpetrators revealed he had participated in a larger number of killings. The names of all his victims are listed on this plaque.
Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

With the fall of the genocidal regime, perpetrators (genocidairs) and organizers of the atrocities (Interhamwe) fled Rwanda to avoid prosecution, along with large numbers of the population who feared retribution.

The Interhamwe quickly began to recruit militias; they reorganized as rebel forces operating over the northwestern border of Rwanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire. Large numbers refugee Rwandan children were recruited and forced to take part in new attacks and atrocities, carry loads of ammunitions, work as messengers, and cook and assist in other tasks.

For rebel groups, child recruits are seen as the most expendable. Easily manipulated, children were forced to commit some of the most brutal atrocities including the rape, maiming and slaughter of victims. If they refused to take part they were killed. Over time, many child soldiers have escaped and returned to Rwanda. In other cases, Rwandan army units liberated them. To date, child ex-child combatants that have returned to Rwanda number in the hundreds, with an estimated 2,000 remaining in the DRC soldiering for Interhamwe groups against their will.

In February, 2004, the Rwandan Demobilization and Reintegration Commission, opened a Child Ex-Combatants Rehabilitation Center, an hour’s drive east of Kigali. This week we were invited to tour the facility. Situated in a wooded setting near the shore of lake Muhazi, the center in on the grounds of a former military training camp. It had a feeling similar to that of many summer youth camps I’ve seen in the United States.

Take away the mosquito netting, and the bunk house bore resemblance to a rustic youth camp; beds made and lined down the wall, clothes hanging from the headboards, tennis shoes and sandals on the floor, drawings tacked to the walls, boxes with personal goods next to or underneath the beds.

The goal of the facility, according to a paper we were given entitled “Confronting the Challenges,” is to “diligently respond to the need for these children to be repatriated, rehabilitated, reunited with their families, and reintegrated into main stream society, thus restoring their right to enjoy their childhood and grow up into responsible citizens.” When I asked about the current group, I was told they had a population of 36 kids, two of which were under 10 years old, the bulk between 12 and 17. I’m usually good at staying dispassionate on photo shoots, however it was hard for me at this location. I had trouble getting the thought out of my mind that some of these kids were the same age to my two daughters, 11 and 13. A problem compounded when I started hearing the list of atrocities many of them had been forced or seduced into committing.

One of the conditions of our tour was that I would not publish any photos of the children’s faces. Most looked very hardened, a few soft and innocent. They wore the same khaki color uniforms of public school children. I had hoped to see and photograph them during their daily classes and activities, however, we met only at the end of our tour. The kids were grouped together in a covered area seated in rows on benches. Six of the older children greeted us with a traditional Rwandan dance.

The facilities’ social psychologist gave us with a brief overview of the of center and it’s philosophical approach. Rehabilitation includes, among others: psycho-social support, art therapy, civic education, literacy and numeric teaching, socializing and life skills activities, and community sensitization and advocacy done in the communities where the children will be reintegrated. On the walls around him were examples of the typical progression of art from when the children arrive to when they leave. The pictures in the photo behind him were common to new arrivals, depicting scenes of guns and battle.

As time progresses the art shows more customary scenes.

When Victoria Trabosh, President of the Itafari Foundation, addressed the group she used phonic flash cards to teach some english words. With her sense of humor and masterful interpersonal skills, I watched the tough and closed looking group briefly show their child side with laughter and boyish smiles.

All images copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Sunrise – an hour after I arrived to Claudette’s house.

It was before dawn when we arrived at Claudette’s house. Her 16 year old brother, Justin, and two children, John Claude (8), and Naomie (10), were already awake. The young ones were completing the first of the morning routines, taking the chickens out of the house and putting the larger ones in the mud walled pen outside.

This chicken wanted to come back in.

The family I was with count themselves among the most impoverished in Rwanda. Where they live has no running water, and no electricity. Their house was made of mud, bricks and a fabricated sheet metal roof. The floors were the hard red dirt common to this part of Africa. Yet their spirits were of the richest the world has to offer.

John Claude boils water to use for breakfast, in the cooking area on the side of the house.

Justin bathes while the children continue with their morning chores.

On this day I witnessed something incredible. It didn’t come in a box, it wasn’t in a museum, it was no great feat of science, engineering, or technology. In the course of an average day I witnessed an astonishing abundance of laughter, joy, community, neighbors and strangers coming together.

John Claude and Naomie have breakfast.

Claudette waits in front of the house to see the children off to school. The house is divided into two apartments, and the four of them live in the right half to this structure. The chicken pen is in the lower right.

Leaving the house for school.

On the way to school with some friends.

After breakfast and chores we walked to school. The kids are fortunate, the school is under a mile from their house. Today their mother will walk with us to introduce me to the principal and ask permission  to photograph at the school.

In much of Rwanda, no one has ever seen a fair skinned person before.  When we arrived at the school many children crowded around me, and continued to throughout the day.

Their shoes, imported from China, are foam rubber and the least expensive available. I couldn’t get over how much they resemble the latest fad for school children in the United States. With a few minor modifications, they’re no different from the crocs shoes that sell for thirty dollars and up in the U.S.

This was a common view for me before school started and during recess.

The schol day began with the students lining up outside by the flag to sing the national antheum and recite a short prayer. Then, class by class they filed off to their rooms to begin their studies.

The start of school began with cleaning; the chalk boards, the classrooms, the walkways outside.

John Claude struggles to work a math problem and his teacher helps him out.

At 9:30 a.m. it’s already feeling like a long day.

Next I went on to Naomie’s class.

Naomie stands to answer a question after being called on.

Some other students in the class room.

At 12:15 school let out for an hour and a half to give the kids time to go home for lunch. In some schools, where resources are more plentiful, the children will stay in school for lunch. One of the endearing qualities about Rwandan culture is the closeness and affection shared among friends, young and old. This next photograph is a scene I’ve observed many times since coming here, in the city and the country side. You would only see this between friends. Couples do not show their affections in public at all.

After school the kids had two things to they needed to accomplish: get water and collect fire wood. In many areas of Rwanda, running water is not available. Some people spend as much as three hours a day walking to get water. Water is survival, and in Rwanda it’s carried mostly in 20 liter yellow jerry cans.

Not an uncommon sight, this man has just finished filling 5 water cans and is on his way home. 20 liters of water weighs 44 pounds (Add the container and it’s 50 pounds a can).

The next time you think you have it bad, imagine caring 50 pounds of water on your head, or carrying 100 pounds (50 on each arm)? Now imagine doing that with a malnourished body on an empty stomach.

John Claude and Naomie are fortunate, their water source is less than a half mile walk from home. Going with empty cans isn’t bad. For kids there are 5 liter containers.

The government has piped water into many areas. Their immediate goal is to have water access within a 2 kilometer walk for everyone.

For a child, 20 pounds of water makes the walk home a much bigger choir. As soon a I took this photo, I also took a can from each of them.

After returning home to drop off the water, we headed out to collect fire wood. The walk was much further this time, almost an hour, to a spot where Claudette is renting a small plot of land to cultivate food. Here the children collected fallen wood from the side of the road. I began to help, but the wood they were gathering had small barbs on the branches and was piercing my skin. Due to deforestation, cutting down trees is strictly regulated in Rwanda.

Naomie gathering wood.

Walking back Naomie was able to easily balance her load. John Claude had to hang on.

The last thing the family did before I left was feed the chickens. Each bird was taken from the pen, and one by one Claudette tied a crudely fashioned rope to their legs.

John Claude holding two chickens awaiting to be tethered.

Then the chickens were placed on the ground and given corn.

Naomie holding a rooster to be put back in the pen after feeding.

The last photos I took before leaving for the day were of two of Claudette’s friends. This woman lives with her family in the other half of the house.

This woman looked wiser than most people I know.

And she had a great smile.

If you’re interested in sponsoring a child in Rwanda, or want to help in another way, I encourage you to contact the Itafari Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization ( http://itafari.org ), and help support their extraordinary work. You can give directly through their secure website, or send a check to Itafari Foundation, 27 El Greco, Lake Oswego, OR 97035. USA

Murakoze Cyane (thank you very much!)

Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

]]> http://bachersblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=125 5 http://bachersblog.com/?p=121 http://bachersblog.com/?p=121#comments Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:37:40 +0000 Adam Bacher http://bachersblog.com/?p=121 On our way visit goat farms in the eastern province of Rwanda, a young man passed us taking his herd of ankole cattle to the local watering hole. The cadence of the heard, hoofs stomping dry ground and horns clanking against one another made me long for a way to record the sounds. Today, the visual will have to do.

All photography copy right Adam Bacher. All Rights Reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Click on this link to see the photos!
MOUNTAIN GORILLAS
Enjoy!

Emmanuel Shamakera – Assist – Rwanda, and Victoria Trabosh – Itafari Foundation.

One goat can make a tremendous difference in the life of a Rwandan child.

Two goats go even farther.

In Portland I photograph fundraising events for Itafari.  I never leave without buying a goat. In the last two years I’ve bought 8. Today I had the opportunity to visit with them, face to face. Making a small monetary donation is much easier, and cleaner, then helping to build the goat pen.

At $25.00 each, a goat is a wonderful way to make a difference in the life of a child that has so little compared to us. I would like to ask you to please consider helping support this extraordinary work the Itafari Foundation is doing,  http://itafari.org .  You can give directly through their secure website, or send a check to Itafari Foundation, 27 El Greco, Lake Oswego, OR 97035. USA

It’s people like us, and the Billy Goat, that make it all happen.

All photographs copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

On the afternoon of October 14, 2007, I traveled to the genocide memorial at Murambi.

When the genocide began in Rwanda, between 40,000 and 50,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus took refuge at the technical school. Authorities promised them that the school would be a sanctuary from the killings that engulfed the nation, but shortly after they arrived, all utilities were cut. The men, women and children survived for two weeks without food or water, in the hope of being spared the fate of their fellow countrymen.

When we entered the site we were greeted by fifty-one year old Emmanuel Murangira, one of four survivors of the massacre that occurred here. A bullet that struck his head probably saved his life. Unconscious for over a day, the Hutu militia mistook him for dead. His family were among the slaughtered. He survived by hiding under the corpses of the dead until it was safe to make his escape.

Emmanuel is the keeper of the keys which unlock rooms filled with what’s left of many of the victims. To ensure the world would never forget, surviving family members requested some of the bodies be preserved and displayed to memorialize the dead, a reminder to the world of the horrors of the genocide. Arranged on benches, in what would have been dorm rooms for the college, are the victims of the massacre at Murambi.

The photos that follow are haunting. I ask you to look at them, to resist the temptation to skip past.

In the media culture of the west, death and violence are glorified on television, in the movies and in video games. By the age of 18, the average child in the United States will have witnessed hundreds of thousands of acts of violence and thousands of murders. We entertain ourselves with commercialization of death, murder and violence. They are used as vehicles of entertainment; they trivialize serious atrocities, things too easily accepted as part of the human condition. When faced with the real thing, many of us shy away.

Emmanuel Murangira, interviewed on February 13^th, 2007, by the BBC News’ radio program, The World, told his story in a piece entitled “Rwanda Genocide Memorial.”

Emmanuel: “When I do this particular work, like coming and showing to people what happened here, I just want to make sure that people like you, when you come and when you go back, you should tell other people what really happened here because those who perpetrated the genocide sometimes say that nothing happened here.”

Emmanuel: On the 21st of April at around 3 am, that was when we heard vehicles, buses, trucks, bringing soldiers, and then the soldiers kind of encircled the whole of the compound and then they started shooting at us, throwing grenades, then killing. — So the killings continued all night from 3am up to around nine in the morning. So in the morning the whole compound was full of dead bodies around here. So you can see I got that bullet wound on my head that very day.”

Emmanuel: “They continued the killings and when almost everybody was dead, then they started going from person to person, looking for money in the pockets, looking for good clothing they could remove, and the shoes, earrings, necklaces, and then they went into the rooms where there were women and children and then hacking them to death with machetes, axes…..”

In a speech he delivered at Murambi, on April 7^th, 2007, Rwanda’s president Paul Kigami stated:

“It is important that we always remember because if we don’t, we shall have learnt nothing from our history. Forgetting may be easier for many but it erases history and may lead to a return to our horrendous past. It also gives an opportunity to those who want to negate genocide and revive the culture of impunity. “

When I left Murambi, a storm had moved in. With it, wind, rain, and a symbol of hope.

Copyright Adam Bacher. Absolutely no use without prior authorization. All rights reserved.

Woman from the eastern province of Rwanda.

Musician at New Road Productions, recording studio (article below).

Rwanda is a very religious nation, and praying is an integral part of everyday life.

“You looking at me?”

All images copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use with out prior authorization.

From that small group, the cooperative called Gahaya Links (after Janet and Joy’s grandfather),  has grown to over 3,000 women! In one week, an average woman can make a set of three bowls, or two small friendship baskets.  If any items don’t pass inspection they are returned with advice on how to correct the problem, or the maker is advised to sell them in the local markets – the most difficult way to be paid.

These images are from Gahaya Links’ training facility in Kigali. The women are humble, with a great sense of pride and accomplishment. It was a pleasure watching them work, talking with their neighbors, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company.

All images copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

The sewing school gives these women hope, as well as a way to support their families. The school is free, including all supplies.  Ezra’s passion for these women and children is unyielding. “Our goal,” he says, “ is to assist them in finding a profitable way sell the clothes they sew.  Hopefully one way will be to export them, some how.”

If not for Ezra and Mona, this child would probably be an orphan. Now she comes with her mom to the sewing school.

Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no usage without prior authorization.

A monetary standard under which the basic unit of currency is defined by a stated quantity of gold.

Price of an ounce of gold - $794.00.

Amount of money holiday shoppers estimate they will spend this year – between $800.00 and $1,000.00 per shopper.

Goat Standard (noun):

A standard whereby the cost of a goat for a needy child in Rwanda is held in comparison to the cost of holiday spending.

Price of one goat – $25.00.

Giving a child a goat is giving a child the opportunity to empower themselves and their families, fertilize crops and gardens, and to create sustainable businesses for child-headed cooperatives.

To read more about this work, please visit www.itafari.org
I invite you to make a contribution. DONATE.

Copyright Adam Bacher. Absolutely no use without prior authorization. All rights reserved.

Still Emmanuel finds time to stay in touch with his family. Yesterday we spent the day touring goat farms in the eastern province of Rwanda, a two and a half hours drive from Kigali. Mid-afternoon, while traveling from one site to the next, Emmanuel asked if we minded a quick stop to meet his mother and favorite aunt.

Emmanuel and his mom.

Bath Time – Mom bathes two grandchildren in the company of a baby goat.

All clean!

Emmanuel’s favorite aunt.

All photographs copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Rwanda is a country filled with vision. I’m a photographer and a visual person. For me, vision is the ability to look at scene and use my camera to capture a piece of its essence. I express my vision of the world through the photographs I take.

Rwanda is a country of a different kind of vision; a vision that is the ability to look at something and see what it might become. The people of Rwanda have great vision; an exceptional quality given what they went through.

At Gahalya Links I met people whose vision was to look at a pile of raffia and see the most beautiful baskets imaginable. Their vision was to look at widows – genocide survivors who lost their entire families – and see business women weaving and selling baskets.

At Kigali Parents School, the founders looked at infants and toddlers whose pre-genocide literacy rate was under five percent, and had a vision of educated adults studying and working to realize their own hopes and dreams.

At URWEGO, a company that specializes in micro-finance, they look at the people who have the least, the poorest of the poor, and they see bank clients, business women, and home owners. Shown here is a home being remodeled with a $120.00 loan.

At Christ Gospel Church, Pastor Francis Mutabazi, his wife Dorthy, and their staff see children everyday with very little opportunity, and they have a vision of them going to school, being provided with health care, and realizing their own dreams. These children have visions too, of becoming teachers and nurses and doctors.

At the Ex-Combatant Rehabilitation Center, Brigadier-General Bagabo and his staff saw children forced into a life soldiering, and had a vision of them getting back their childhood, returning to normal lives, and becoming healthy and productive citizens.

At the Millennium Village, they had a vision of survivors and perpetrators of the genocide building houses together and living side by side in peace and forgiveness. The man shown below killed 6 people in his village during the genocide. After 10 years in jail, he now lives next door to survivors from that same village.

The list goes on, and on, and on.

Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Life is a series of choices: what we say, where we go, what and how we think. Everything we do reflects a choice we have made. If we choose to focus on our differences, then it’s “us versus them”: animosity, resentment, and bitterness will prevail, even war. If we focus on our commonality as human beings on earth, who share the experience of our humanity and take the same joys and sorrows in life, then we see each other as we see ourselves. Tolerance, empathy and understanding abide. We know ourselves as part of the plurality of our common human identity.

Every day in Rwanda, I ask myself why these people appear so happy when they have so little? Perhaps because they are grateful for what they do have, grateful each time their most basic needs are met: safety, food, shelter, companionship. Being with the Rwandans is a gracious and joyful experience, yet at times I feel ashamed. How thankful am I for what truly matters in life? How much am I missing when my gratitude comes more from the latest “toy” I’ve bought, and not from the smile of a loved one?

Today was my first low key day since I arrived. We had lunch in a typical Rwandan neighborhood with Vicky’s friends Rita and Chrysologue. I napped on their couch, photographed Bessie the cow, and talked religion and politics with Pastor Francis who lives next door. Then Rita and I lounged on the grass by the church, while children played around us; thoughtful, playful, considerate, well behaved. No fights, arguments, or screaming, nor any parents.
The kids here are different than the kids in the United States. I don’t see Rwandan children having the sense of entitlement their counterparts do in the U.S. They listen, are respectful, and want to help. They don’t have that, “what’s in it for me,” attitude. Statistically, child abuse is also lower here than in other parts of the world. What do Rwandan parents know that western parents don’t?

You can make a difference in the lives of these children and others. I encourage you to consider giving to the Itafari Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization http://itafari.org , and help support their extraordinary work. You can give directly through their secure website, or send a check to: Itafari Foundation, 27 El Greco, Lake Oswego, OR 97035. USA

Murakoze Cyane! (thank you very much)

Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Charlotte is a survivor of the genocide and a person of incredible resilience. She is a young woman who is dear to Victoria Trabosh, President of The Itafari Foundation. Charlotte “is like a daughter,” she says. Vicky met her on her first trip to Rwanda in 2005. Like many, Charlotte suffered great losses in the genocide; both her parents, relatives, and many friends. Yet Charlotte has transformed herself before Vicky’s eyes from someone who did not know what she wanted 2 1/2 years ago, to a happily married woman, pregnant with her first child. Now she works in the finance industry and is determined to complete her education. “She represents to me the strength of the young women of this country,” quotes Vicky, “ they overcome their own fears and doubts, personal obstacles, cultural constraints, and past grief that could stop them from succeeding.”

This morning when Charlotte invited us to attend the defense of her dissertation, I assumed she was earning a PhD. I later found out this was for her Bachelors Degree. I’ve had the pleasure of attending two PhD dissertation defense proceedings for friends of mine at the University of Oregon, but never anything like this. To my advantage the entire proceeding was in english. Charlotte’s work is titled: The Impact of Pay as You Earn on Rwandan Employees. (A case study: Bank Commonwealth of Rwanda).

Preparing for the big moment.

My best way to describe what happened is through the words of Monty Python: “Nobody Expects…The Spanish Inquisition.” In fairness, the professors were just doing their jobs and all were good people. It was just brutal. Sitting in the back I exchanged meaningful glances with Charlotte’s friends, while she sat and answered one question after another, never losing her composure, never breaking a sweat. A lesser woman would have withered under the scrutiny and verbal questioning that occurred. The tension rose to a crescendo when we were all asked to leave the room while the professors made their final decisions. In the end, she passed. Congratulations Charlotte!

The moment itself.

Staying composed under pressure.

Copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Ezra with Bogart and Bergman in the front lobby of his studio.

A wider view of the lobby with two cool Rwandans (yes I forgot to get their names and titles).

Recording in the studio – photograph #1

Recording in the studio – photograph #2.

All images copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use without prior authorization.

Woman in Kigali

Residential road in Kigali

This boy came up to my car window while we were stopped on a side street and asked if I would take a photo of him.

Slum area in Kigali

Boy walking past banana tree grove

Man on street

All images copyright Adam Bacher. All rights reserved. Absolutely no use allowed without prior authorization.

Morning Clouds over Belgium.

Sunset over Sudan from the plane.

Today Rwanda weighs heavily on the conscience of the world as a place where history has tested the soul of humanity. Not since Hitler’s genocide of the Jews in WWII has such an atrocity been allowed to run its course. Yet from the ash of genocide grows hope and possibility.

On September 25^th I leave for Rwanda to spend a month photographing their recovery from the genocide. On assignment for the Oregon based Itafari Foundation (www.itafari.org), I will be accompanying Itafari President, Victoria Trabosh, on a “tour of hope.” Through my images I hope to document that story – the strength of the Rwandan people and how they rebuilt their nation. This is a call to action for others to join in this generative process.

I invite you to join me through my blog, www.bachersblog.com, where I will regularly update you with my images and thoughts during the journey. I want to share this with you and hear your comments on my blog.

Thanks!

Adam