I have been in Rwanda for just under a month, and find myself captivated by the spirit and beauty of the people. I feel blessed to be here, and as much as I miss my family, I am sad to be leaving tomorrow.
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 Gahaya 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.
Hey Adam,
I visited you today,
Hope to come over some time
Francis and Dorothy
Hi Francis, So good to hear from you. I’m coming back on November 9th through December 3rd. Please send my best wishes to everyone at the church. Also, can you get a message to the children in the brick house that I spent the day with and tell them that I miss them and think about them often, and will visit them when I come back in November.
Thanks for helping to open all our eyes, Adam.
Hope your trip home was smooth and uneventful.
We’ll keep coming back to your blog to read more.
Well done!
I am struck by the face of the man, who having served a prison sentence for killing six people in his village during the genocide, now lives in peace with them. The pain he feels is hauntingly visible in his eyes. The forgiveness of those he has harmed in such a terrible way stands in stark contrast to the need to find peace within himself. This powerful image gives a face and a new dimension to the real meaning of forgiveness for others and for ourselves.