Africa 24 Media Photography

Rwanda has one the highest percentages of orphans in the world. This owes its beginning to April 1994, when ethnic violence erupted in the country as Hutu extremists murdered as many as 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a reign of terror that lasted 100 days. In fact, the death toll is reported to have scaled to more than a million people, while another three million were displaced.

During these horrific days - the darkest in the country’s annals - children were maimed while many others watched helplessly and in despair as family members got tortured and murdered, while girls were systematically raped. Never before in history, and since the Holocaust - has there been an extermination of human life on such a scale in such a short period of time. More than 95,000 children were left lost or orphaned as the violence continued to flare up even in the following years, resulting in even more children being orphaned. With poverty, HIV/AIDS and other diseases also raging “The Land of a Thousand Hills,” Rwanda’s adult population continue to drop, while orphan population continue to soar as more and more children are forced to face the ills of the modern society. But, in the aftermath of the genocide, Roz Carr, an American woman who had lived in Rwanda since 1949, converted an old pyrethrum drying house on her property into a shelter for lost and orphaned children. The orphanage is called Imbabazi, which in Kinyarwanda means “a place where you will receive all the love and care a mother would give.” Since it opened its doors in December 1994, Imbabazi has provided refuge, hope, care, parental love, food, clothing, medical care, guidance and education to more than 400 children. It has been a case of saving one child at a time and restoring their hope of finding love and safety among each other at the orphanage. Many of the children have been reunited with family members located by various relief agencies still working throughout Rwanda. Others have grown up and moved on to lead successful and meaningful lives. In 1998, due to renewed ethnic violence, Roz was forced to leave her home and relocate the children to the nearby town of Gisenyi, where they remained for seven years, moving from one location to another. Rosamond Carr died on September 29, 2006, at the age of 94. Rwanda has been rebuilding since the genocide and has made astronomical strides in rebuilding its economy, improving infrastructure, promoting peaceful coexistence and prioritizing on justice and reconciliation among her people. Roz and the Imbabazi are one of the many success stories that symbolize the rebuilding of The Land of a Thousand Hills.

 View Gallery