The Making of "Portraits of Peace" 2005

Support Gismba Memorial Center. Buy the book!: www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/559906

Do you remember the first time you held a camera? Where did you point it? Up? Down?
At your best friend? And what did you take photographs of? This summer, I taught photography to the orphans of Gisimba Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda. Here are a few images of the kids taking pictures--often of each other, as what they value above all else is friendship.

Note: the photographs that the children made are all at the orphanage. I hope some can be scanned someday and uploaded here. [July 23, 2011.]

The text below is from www.orphansofrwanda.org

"Centre Memorial de Gisimba (Gisimba Memorial Center)

The Gisimba orphanage, located in the Nyamirambo quarter of Kigali, is led by Damas Mutezintare Gisimba. Damas's father founded the orphanage in 1980 with 18 children living in one house. Damas took over in 1986 after the death of his father. During the genocide Damas sheltered over 400 children and adults in the small orphanage compound from the predations of the interahamwe [the Hutu paramilitary squads that carried out much of the genocide]. Though the orphanage was repeatedly menaced, Damas and his colleagues held their ground and did not give in to the genocidaires. He has been honored for his heroism by the Rwandan government and many other organizations.

The orphanage currently houses over 150 children. Ten years ago almost all were genocide victims, but many of the newer arrivals have been orphaned by AIDS. Because their parents were HIV+, a number of them are also infected."

PLEASE DONATE TO ORPHANS OF RWANDA.