I talked with Ray Tollison, a U.S. based photographer, who visited Rwanda recently to take photographs for World Relief. He's created a couple of great photo essays including one about a genocide survivor called Bernice. Well worth a look. More on the KIgali Wire blog. I'm hoping to speak to a couple of other photographers working in Rwanda in the new year.
As part of the Global Water Challenge, a company called Manna Energy Limited, founded by NASA Astronaut Ron Garan, have installed a water treatment system at the L'Esperance orphanage in Kigarama. It is now providing clean water for over 100 orphans.
Read more at Kigali Wire.
Image taken from Global Water Challenge Video
I interviewed German photojournalist Simon Sticker about his recent work in Rwanda, specifically about the With Our Own Eyes project. I put the full interview on Kigali Wire,
My interest in Rwanda started some time ago, mainly
because of reading a lot about the genocide and the conflict. I think I
was first of all interested in getting to know a bit about how life is
today 15 years after it has passed through so much horror. In the end,
I came to Rwanda a bit by accident as I was on assignment in Kenya for
a film about the effects of climate change for a university here in
Germany and had a few weeks left after wards. I flew to Rwanda and
totally fell in love with the country and it’s people. At the same time
the pictures I had in my mind, when I came for the first time were
quite different to what I saw. I also felt a bit like that I had failed
with my photography on this first trip, because I felt too influenced
by the pictures and stories I had read before. link
Internet phenomenon Matt Harding was in Kigali last month. He filmed what must have been the inaugural Rwandan Grand Prix.
There are couple of things you should look out for when you buy a newspaper on the streets of Kigali. One is the date - do you really want to buy last week's edition? Or last month's? That's what you might get palmed off with. The other... well, the clue is in the photograph. You can read more about that on Kigali Wire
